Adaptive Harvest
Management
2008 Hunting Season
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
1
Adaptive
Harvest
Management
2008 Hunting Season
PREFACE
The process of setting waterfowl hunting regulations is conducted annually in the United States (Blohm 1989).
This process involves a number of meetings where the status of waterfowl is reviewed by the agencies responsible
for setting hunting regulations. In addition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) publishes proposed
regulations in the Federal Register to allow public comment. This document is part of a series of reports intended
to support development of harvest regulations for the 2008 hunting season. Specifically, this report is intended to
provide waterfowl managers and the public with information about the use of adaptive harvest management
(AHM) for setting waterfowl hunting regulations in the United States. This report provides the most current data,
analyses, and decision-making protocols. However, adaptive management is a dynamic process and some
information presented in this report will differ from that in previous reports.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A working group comprised of representatives from the USFWS, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the
Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), and the four Flyway Councils (Appendix 1) was established in 1992 to review
the scientific basis for managing waterfowl harvests. The working group, supported by technical experts from the
waterfowl management and research communities, subsequently proposed a framework for adaptive harvest
management, which was first implemented in 1995. The USFWS expresses its gratitude to the AHM Working
Group and to the many other individuals, organizations, and agencies that have contributed to the development
and implementation of AHM.
This report was prepared by the USFWS Division of Migratory Bird Management. G. S. Boomer and T. A.
Sanders were the principal authors. Individuals that provided essential information or otherwise assisted with
report preparation were F. Johnson (USGS), M. Runge (USGS), M. Koneff (USFWS), K. Richkus (USFWS), T.
Liddick (USFWS), E. Silverman (USFWS), N. Zimpfer (USFWS), J. Klimstra (USFWS), A. Royle (USGS), and
P. Garrettson (USFWS). Comments regarding this document should be sent to the Chief, Division of Migratory
Bird Management - USFWS, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, MS MSP-4107, Arlington, VA 22203.
Citation: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2008. Adaptive Harvest Management: 2008 Hunting Season. U.S. Dept. Interior,
Washington, D.C. 54pp. Available online at http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/mgmt/AHM/AHM-intro.htm
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary .............................................................................................................3
Background ..........................................................................................................................4
Mallard Stocks and Flyway Management............................................................................5
Mallard Population Dynamics..............................................................................................6
Harvest-Management Objectives .......................................................................................13
Regulatory Alternatives .....................................................................................................14
Optimal Regulatory Strategies ...........................................................................................18
Application of AHM Concepts to Other Stocks ................................................................20
Literature Cited ..................................................................................................................30
Appendix 1: AHM Working Group..................................................................................33
Appendix 2: Mid-continent Mallard Models ....................................................................36
Appendix 3: Eastern Mallard Models ...............................................................................39
Appendix 4: Western Mallard Models..............................................................................42
Appendix 5: Modeling Mallard Harvest Rates .................................................................47
Appendix 6: Scaup Model.................................................................................................51
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 1995 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) implemented the Adaptive Harvest Management (AHM)
program for setting duck hunting regulations in the United States. The AHM approach provides a framework for
making objective decisions in the face of incomplete knowledge concerning waterfowl population dynamics and
regulatory impacts.
This year the AHM protocol is based on the population dynamics and status of three mallard (Anas
platyrhynchos) stocks. Mid-continent mallards are defined as those breeding in the Waterfowl Breeding
Population and Habitat Survey (WBPHS) strata 13–18, 20–50, and 75–77 plus mallards breeding in the states of
Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin (state surveys). The prescribed regulatory alternative for the Mississippi
and Central Flyways depends exclusively on the status of these mallards. Eastern mallards are defined as those
breeding in WBPHS strata 51–54, and 56 and breeding in the states of Virginia northward into New Hampshire
(Atlantic Flyway Breeding Waterfowl Survey [AFBWS]). The regulatory choice for the Atlantic Flyway depends
exclusively on the status of these mallards. Western mallards are defined as those birds breeding in WBPHS
strata 1–12 (hereafter Alaska) and those birds breeding in the states of California and Oregon (state surveys). The
regulatory choice for the Pacific Flyway depends exclusively on the status of these mallards.
Mallard population models are based on the best available information and account for uncertainty in population
dynamics and the impact of harvest. Model-specific weights reflect the relative confidence in alternative
hypotheses and are updated annually using comparisons of predicted and observed population sizes. For mid-continent
mallards, current model weights favor the weakly density-dependent reproductive hypothesis (85%) and
suggest some preference for the additive-mortality hypothesis (62%). For eastern mallards, virtually all of the
weight is on models that have corrections for bias in estimates of survival or reproductive rates. Model weights
do not discriminate between the strongly density-dependent (46%) and weakly density-dependent (54%)
reproductive hypotheses. By consensus, hunting mortality is assumed to be additive in eastern mallards. Unlike
mid-continent and eastern mallards, we consider a single functional form to predict western mallard population
dynamics but consider a wide range of parameter values each weighted relative to the support from the data.
For the 2008 hunting season, the USFWS is considering the same regulatory alternatives as last year. The nature
of the restrictive, moderate, and liberal alternatives has remained essentially unchanged since 1997, except that
extended framework dates have been offered in the moderate and liberal alternatives since 2002. Harvest rates
associated with each of the regulatory alternatives have been updated based on band-reporting rate studies
conducted since 1998. Estimated harvest rates of adult males from the 2002–2007 liberal hunting seasons have
averaged 0.105 (SE = 0.003), 0.133 (SE = 0.008), 0.109 (SE = 0.004). for mid-continent, eastern and western
mallards, respectively. The estimated marginal effect of framework-date extensions has been an increase in
harvest rate of 0.006 (SD = 0.008) and 0.004 (SD = 0.010) for mid-continent and eastern mallards, respectively.
Optimal regulatory strategies for the 2008 hunting season were calculated using: (1) harvest-management
objectives specific to each mallard stock; (2) the 2008 regulatory alternatives; and (3) current population models.
Based on this year’s survey results of 7.87 million mid-continent mallards, 3.05 million ponds in Prairie Canada,
815 thousand eastern mallards, and 914 thousand western mallards in Alaska (532 thousand) and California-
Oregon (381 thousand), the optimal choice for all four flyways is the liberal regulatory alternative.
AHM concepts and tools are also being applied to help improve harvest management for several other waterfowl
stocks. In the last year, progress has been made in understanding the harvest potential of American black ducks
(Anas rubripes), the Atlantic Population of Canada geese (Branta canadensis), northern pintails (Anas acuta), and
scaup (Aythya affinis, A. marila). While these biological assessments are on-going, they are already informing
decision makers and proving valuable in helping focus debate on the social aspects of harvesting policy, including
management objectives and the nature of regulatory alternatives.
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BACKGROUND
The annual process of setting duck-hunting regulations in the United States is based on a system of resource
monitoring, data analyses, and rule-making (Blohm 1989). Each year, monitoring activities such as aerial surveys
and hunter questionnaires provide information on population size, habitat conditions, and harvest levels. Data
collected from this monitoring program are analyzed each year, and proposals for duck-hunting regulations are
developed by the Flyway Councils, States, and USFWS. After extensive public review, the USFWS announces
regulatory guidelines within which States can set their hunting seasons.
In 1995, the USFWS adopted the concept of adaptive resource management (Walters 1986) for regulating duck
harvests in the United States. This approach explicitly recognizes that the consequences of hunting regulations
cannot be predicted with certainty and provides a framework for making objective decisions in the face of that
uncertainty (Williams and Johnson 1995). Inherent in the adaptive approach is an awareness that management
performance can be maximized only if regulatory effects can be predicted reliably. Thus, adaptive management
relies on an iterative cycle of monitoring, assessment, and decision-making to clarify the relationships among
hunting regulations, harvests, and waterfowl abundance.
In regulating waterfowl harvests, managers face four fundamental sources of uncertainty (Nichols et al. 1995a,
Johnson et al. 1996, Williams et al. 1996):
(1) environmental variation - the temporal and spatial variation in weather conditions and other key features
of waterfowl habitat; an example is the annual change in the number of ponds in the Prairie Pothole
Region, where water conditions influence duck reproductive success;
(2) partial controllability - the ability of managers to control harvest only within limits; the harvest resulting
from a particular set of hunting regulations cannot be predicted with certainty because of variation in
weather conditions, timing of migration, hunter effort, and other factors;
(3) partial observability - the ability to estimate key population attributes (e.g., population size, reproductive
rate, harvest) only within the precision afforded by extant monitoring programs; and
(4) structural uncertainty - an incomplete understanding of biological processes; a familiar example is the
long-standing debate about whether harvest is additive to other sources of mortality or whether
populations compensate for hunting losses through reduced natural mortality. Structural uncertainty
increases contentiousness in the decision-making process and decreases the extent to which managers can
meet long-term conservation goals.
AHM was developed as a systematic process for dealing objectively with these uncertainties. The key
components of AHM include (Johnson et al. 1993, Williams and Johnson 1995):
(1) a limited number of regulatory alternatives, which describe Flyway-specific season lengths, bag limits,
and framework dates;
(2) a set of population models describing various hypotheses about the effects of harvest and environmental
factors on waterfowl abundance;
(3) a measure of reliability (probability or "weight") for each population model; and
(4) a mathematical description of the objective(s) of harvest management (i.e., an "objective function"), by
which alternative regulatory strategies can be compared.
These components are used in a stochastic optimization procedure to derive a regulatory strategy. A regulatory
strategy specifies the optimal regulatory choice, with respect to the stated management objectives, for each
possible combination of breeding population size, environmental conditions, and model weights (Johnson et al.
1997). The setting of annual hunting regulations then involves an iterative process:
(1) each year, an optimal regulatory choice is identified based on resource and environmental conditions, and
on current model weights;
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(2) after the regulatory decision is made, model-specific predictions for subsequent breeding population size
are determined;
(3) when monitoring data become available, model weights are increased to the extent that observations of
population size agree with predictions, and decreased to the extent that they disagree; and
(4) the new model weights are used to start another iteration of the process.
By iteratively updating model weights and optimizing regulatory choices, the process should eventually identify
which model is the best overall predictor of changes in population abundance. The process is optimal in the sense
that it provides the regulatory choice each year necessary to maximize management performance. It is adaptive in
the sense that the harvest strategy “evolves” to account for new knowledge generated by a comparison of
predicted and observed population sizes.
MALLARD STOCKS AND FLYWAY MANAGEMENT
Since its inception AHM has focused on the population dynamics and harvest potential of mallards, especially
those breeding in mid-continent North America. Mallards constitute a large portion of the total U.S. duck harvest,
and traditionally have been a reliable indicator of the status of many other species. As management capabilities
have grown, there has been increasing interest in the ecology and management of breeding mallards that occur
outside the mid-continent region. Geographic differences in the reproduction, mortality, and migrations of
mallard stocks suggest that there may be corresponding differences in optimal levels of sport harvest. The ability
to regulate harvests of mallards originating from various breeding areas is complicated, however, by the fact that a
large degree of mixing occurs during the hunting season. The challenge for managers, then, is to vary hunting
regulations among Flyways in a manner that recognizes each Flyway’s unique breeding-ground derivation of
mallards. Of course, no Flyway receives mallards exclusively from one breeding area, therefore Flyway-specific
harvest strategies ideally should account for multiple breeding stocks that are exposed to a common harvest.
The optimization procedures used in AHM can account for breeding populations of mallards beyond the mid-continent
region, and for the manner in which these ducks distribute themselves among the Flyways during the
hunting season. An optimal approach would allow for Flyway-specific regulatory strategies, which in a sense
represent for each Flyway an average of the optimal harvest strategies for each contributing breeding stock,
weighted by the relative size of each stock in the fall flight. This joint optimization of multiple mallard stocks
requires: (1) models of population dynamics for all recognized stocks of mallards; (2) an objective function that
accounts for harvest-management goals for all mallard stocks in the aggregate; and (3) decision rules allowing
Flyway-specific regulatory choices.
Currently, three stocks of mallards are officially recognized for the purposes of AHM (Fig. 1). We use a
constrained approach to the optimization of these stocks’ harvest, in which the Atlantic Flyway regulatory
strategy is based exclusively on the status of eastern mallards, the regulatory strategy for the Mississippi and
Central Flyways is based exclusively on the status of mid-continent mallards, and the Pacific Flyway regulatory
strategy is based exclusively on the status of western mallards. This approach has been determined to perform
nearly as well as a joint-optimization because mixing of the three stocks during the hunting season is limited and
because of the constraints imposed by management objectives and regulatory alternatives.
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Fig 1. Survey areas currently assigned to the mid-continent, eastern, and western stocks of mallards
for the purposes of AHM.
MALLARD POPULATION DYNAMICS
Mid-Continent Stock
For this year, mid-continent mallards have been re-defined as those breeding in WBPHS strata 13–18, 20–50, and
75–77, and in the Great Lakes region (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin; Fig. 1). Estimates of the size of this
population are available since 1992, and have varied from 6.4 to 11.2 million (Table 1, Fig. 2). Estimated
breeding-population size in 2008 was 7.87 million (SE = 0.26 million), including 7.19 million (SE = 0.29 million)
from the WBPHS and 675 thousand (SE = 48 thousand) from the Great Lakes region.
Details describing the set of population models for mid-continent mallards are provided in Appendix 2. The set
consists of four alternatives, formed by the combination of two survival hypotheses (additive vs. compensatory
hunting mortality) and two reproductive hypotheses (strongly vs. weakly density dependent). Relative weights
for the alternative models of mid-continent mallards changed little until all models under-predicted the change in
population size from 1998 to 1999, perhaps indicating there is a significant factor affecting population dynamics
that is absent from all four models (Fig. 3). Updated model weights suggest some preference for the additive-
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Table 1. Estimates (N) and associated standard errors (SE) of mid-continent mallards (in millions) in the
WBPHS (strata 13–18, 20–50, and 75–77) and the Great Lakes region (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin).
WBPHS area Great Lakes region Total
Year N SE N SE N SE
1992 5.6304 0.2379 0.9946 0.1597 6.6249 0.2865
1993 5.4253 0.2068 0.9347 0.1457 6.3600 0.2529
1994 6.6292 0.2803 1.1505 0.1163 7.7797 0.3035
1995 7.7452 0.2793 1.1214 0.1965 8.8666 0.3415
1996 7.4193 0.2593 1.0251 0.1443 8.4444 0.2967
1997 9.3554 0.3041 1.0777 0.1445 10.4331 0.3367
1998 8.8041 0.2940 1.1224 0.1792 9.9266 0.3443
1999 10.0926 0.3374 1.0591 0.2122 11.1518 0.3986
2000 8.6999 0.2855 1.2350 0.1761 9.9348 0.3354
2001 7.1857 0.2204 0.8622 0.1086 8.0479 0.2457
2002 6.8364 0.2412 1.0820 0.1152 7.9184 0.2673
2003 7.1062 0.2589 0.8360 0.0734 7.9422 0.2691
2004 6.6142 0.2746 0.9333 0.0748 7.5474 0.2847
2005 6.0521 0.2754 0.7862 0.0650 6.8383 0.2830
2006 6.7607 0.2187 0.5881 0.0465 7.3488 0.2236
2007 7.7258 0.2805 0.7677 0.0584 8.4935 0.2865
2008 7.1914 0.2525 0.6750 0.0478 7.8664 0.2570
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
1991 1995 1999 2003 2007
Year
Population size (millions)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
WBPHS survey
Great Lakes
Total
Fig. 2. Population estimates of mid-continent mallards in the WBPHS (strata: 13–18, 20–50, and
75–77) and the Great Lakes region (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). Error bars represent
one standard error.
8
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007
Year
Model Weight
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
ScRw
SaRs
SaRw
ScRs
Fig 3. Weights for models of mid-continent mallards (ScRs = compensatory mortality and strongly
density-dependent reproduction, ScRw = compensatory mortality and weakly density-dependent
reproduction, SaRs = additive mortality and strongly density-dependent reproduction, and SaRw =
additive mortality and weakly density-dependent reproduction). Model weights were assumed to be
equal in 1995.
mortality models (62%) over those describing hunting mortality as compensatory (38%). For most of the time
frame, model weights have strongly favored the weakly density-dependent reproductive models over the strongly
density-dependent ones, with current model weights of 85% and 15%, respectively. The reader is cautioned,
however, that models can sometimes make reliable predictions of population size for reasons having little to do
with the biological hypotheses expressed therein (Johnson et al. 2002b).
Eastern Stock
Eastern mallards are defined as those breeding in southern Ontario and Quebec (WBPHS strata 51–54 and 56) and
in the northeastern U.S. (AFBWS; Heusman and Sauer 2000; Fig. 1). Estimates of population size have varied
from 815 thousand to 1.1 million since 1990, with the majority of the population accounted for in the northeastern
U.S. (Table 2, Fig. 4). For 2008, the estimated breeding-population size of eastern mallards was 815 thousand
(SE = 51 thousand), including 619 thousand (SE = 41 thousand) from the northeastern U.S. and 196 thousand (SE
= 30 thousand) from the WBPHS. The reader is cautioned that these estimates differ from those reported in the
USFWS annual waterfowl trend and status reports, which include composite estimates based on more fixed-wing
strata in eastern Canada and helicopter surveys conducted by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS).
Details concerning the set of population models for eastern mallards are provided in Appendix 3. The set consists
of six alternatives, formed by the combination of two reproductive hypotheses (strongly vs. weakly density
dependent) and three hypotheses concerning bias in estimates of survival and reproductive rates (no bias vs.
biased survival rates vs. biased reproductive rates). With respect to model weights, there is no single model that is
clearly favored over the others at the current time. Collectively, current model weights provide little
discrimination between the weakly density-dependent or strongly density dependence reproductive hypotheses,
with current model weights of 54% and 46%, respectively (Fig. 5). In addition, there is overwhelming evidence
of bias in extant estimates of survival or reproductive rates (100%), assuming that survey estimates are unbiased.
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Table 2. Estimates (N) and associated standard errors (SE) of eastern mallards (in thousands) in the
northeastern U.S. (AFBWS) and southern Ontario and Quebec (WBPHS strata 51–54 and 56).
Northeastern U.S. Canadian survey strata Total
Year N SE N SE N SE
1990 665.1 78.3 190.7 47.2 855.8 91.4
1991 779.2 88.3 152.8 33.7 932.0 94.5
1992 562.2 47.9 320.3 53.0 882.5 71.5
1993 686.6 49.9 292.1 48.2 978.6 69.4
1994 856.3 62.8 219.5 28.2 1075.8 68.8
1995 864.1 70.4 184.4 40.0 1048.6 81.0
1996 848.6 61.1 283.1 55.7 1131.7 82.6
1997 795.2 49.6 212.1 39.6 1007.3 63.4
1998 775.2 49.7 263.8 67.2 1039.0 83.6
1999 880.0 60.2 212.5 36.9 1092.4 70.6
2000 762.6 48.7 132.3 26.4 894.8 55.4
2001 809.4 51.6 200.2 35.6 1009.7 62.7
2002 833.5 56.2 191.5 31.9 1025.0 64.7
2003 731.9 47.0 308.3 55.4 1040.2 72.6
2004 806.6 51.7 301.5 53.3 1108.1 74.3
2005 753.6 53.6 293.4 53.1 1047.0 75.5
2006 721.4 47.6 174.0 28.4 895.4 55.5
2007 687.6 46.7 219.3 33.6 906.9 57.6
2008 619.1 40.7 196.0 30.0 815.1 50.5
10
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1989 1994 1999 2004 2009
Year
Population size (millions)
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
AFBWS
WBPHS
Total
Fig. 4. Population estimates of eastern mallards in the northeastern states (AFBWS) and in
southern Ontario and Quebec (WBPHS strata 51–54 and 56). Error bars represent one standard
error.
1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Year
Model weight
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Rw0
Rs0
RwS
RsS
RwR
RsR
Fig. 5. Weights for models of eastern mallards (Rw0 = weak density-dependent reproduction and
no model bias, Rs0 = strong -dependent reproduction and no model bias, RwS = weak density-dependent
reproduction and biased survival rates, RsS = strong density-dependent reproduction
and biased survival rates, RwR = weak density-dependent reproduction and biased reproductive
rates, and RsR = strong density-dependent reproduction and biased reproductive rates). Model
weights were assumed to be equal in 1996.
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Western Stock
Western mallards consist of 2 substocks and are defined as those birds breeding in Alaska (WBPHS strata 1–12)
and those birds breeding in California and Oregon (state surveys). Estimates of the size of these subpopulations
have varied from 283 to 843 thousand in Alaska since 1990 and 355 to 694 thousand in California and Oregon
since 1992 (Table 3, Fig. 6). The total population size of western mallards has ranged from 0.748 to 1.407
million.
Ideally, the western mallard stock assessment would account for mallards breeding in the states of the Pacific
Flyway (including Alaska), British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory. However, we have had continuing
concerns about our ability to determine changes in population size based on the collection of surveys conducted
independently by Pacific Flyway States and the CWS in British Columbia. These surveys tend to vary in design
and intensity, and in some cases lack measures of precision. We reviewed extant surveys to determine their
adequacy for supporting a western-mallard AHM protocol and selected Alaska, California, and Oregon for
modeling purposes. These three states likely harbor about 75% of the western-mallard breeding population.
Nonetheless, this geographic delineation is considered temporary until surveys in other areas can be brought up to
similar standards and an adequate record of population estimates is available for analysis.
Details concerning the set of population models for western mallards are provided in Appendix 4. To predict
changes in abundance we relied on a discrete logistic model, which combines reproduction and natural mortality
into a single parameter, r, the intrinsic rate of growth. This model assumes density-dependent growth, which is
regulated by the ratio of population size, N, to the carrying capacity of the environment, K (i.e., equilibrium
population size in the absence of harvest). In the traditional formulation of the logistic model, harvest mortality is
completely additive and any compensation for hunting losses occurs as a result of density-dependent responses
beginning in the subsequent breeding season. To increase the model’s generality we included a scaling parameter
for harvest that allows for the possibility of compensation prior to the breeding season. It is important to note,
however, that this parameterization does not incorporate any hypothesized mechanism for harvest compensation
and, therefore, must be interpreted cautiously. We modeled Alaska mallards independently of those in California
and Oregon because of differing population trajectories (Fig. 6) and substantial differences in the distribution of
band recoveries.
We used Bayesian estimation methods in combination with a state-space model that accounts explicitly for both
process and observation error in breeding population size (Meyer and Millar 1999). Breeding population
estimates of mallards in Alaska are available since 1955, but we had to limit the time-series to 1990–2005 because
of changes in survey methodology and insufficient band-recovery data. The logistic model and associated
posterior parameter estimates provided a reasonable fit to the observed time-series of Alaska population estimates.
The estimated carrying capacity was 1.2 million, the intrinsic rate of growth was 0.32, and harvest mortality
acted in an additive fashion. Breeding population and harvest-rate data were available for California-Oregon
mallards for the period 1992–2006. The logistic model also provided a reasonable fit to these data, suggesting a
carrying capacity of 0.7 million, an intrinsic rate of growth of 0.36, and harvest mortality that acted in only a
partially additive manner.
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Table 3. Estimates (N) and associated standard errors (SE) of mallards (in thousands) in Alaska (WBPHS
strata 1–12) and California and Oregon (state surveys) combined.
Alaska California-Oregon Total
Year N SE N SE N SE
1990 366.9 37.0
1991 385.3 36.3
1992 345.7 38.7 483.5 60.5 829.2 71.8
1993 283.0 29.5 465.4 51.0 748.4 58.9
1994 350.9 37.1 436.7 42.6 787.6 56.5
1995 524.2 68.0 454.1 42.8 978.3 80.3
1996 522.0 43.6 645.1 80.2 1167.1 91.2
1997 584.2 52.0 639.0 104.3 1223.2 116.6
1998 836.2 67.3 486.8 48.9 1323.0 83.2
1999 713.1 69.6 693.7 106.6 1406.8 127.3
2000 770.3 52.2 463.9 53.2 1234.2 74.5
2001 718.3 54.1 404.4 45.1 1122.7 70.5
2002 667.3 50.7 377.5 32.7 1044.9 60.3
2003 843.5 66.8 434.0 50.1 1277.5 83.5
2004 811.1 63.9 354.7 35.2 1165.8 72.9
2005 703.1 54.7 401.4 47.4 1104.5 72.4
2006 515.8 46.9 487.9 57.6 1003.7 74.3
2007 581.5 55.1 490.0 54.6 1071.5 77.5
2008 532.4 46.8 381.4 47.8 913.8 66.9
13
Year
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008
Population size (millions)
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
AK
CA-OR
Total
Fig. 6. Population estimates of western mallards in Alaska (WBPHS strata 1–12) and California
and Oregon (state surveys) combined. Error bars represent one standard error.
Ideally, the development of AHM protocols for mallards would consider how different breeding stocks distribute
themselves among the four flyways so that Flyway-specific harvest strategies could account for the mixing of
birds during the hunting season. At present, however, a joint optimization of western, mid-continent, and eastern
stocks is not feasible due to computational hurdles. However, our preliminary analyses suggest that the lack of a
joint optimization does not result in a significant decrease in performance. Therefore, the AHM protocol for
western mallards is structured similarly to that used for eastern mallards, in which an optimal harvest strategy is
based on the status of a single breeding stock and harvest regulations in a single flyway. Although the
contribution of mid-continent mallards to the Pacific Flyway harvest is significant, we believe an independent
harvest strategy for western mallards poses little risk to the mid-continent stock. Further analyses will be needed
to confirm this conclusion, as well as to better understand the potential effect of mid-continent mallard status on
sustainable hunting opportunities in the Pacific Flyway.
HARVEST-MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES
The basic harvest-management objective for mid-continent mallards is to maximize cumulative harvest over the
long term, which inherently requires perpetuation of a viable population. Moreover, this objective is constrained
to avoid regulations that could be expected to result in a subsequent population size below the goal of the North
American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP). According to this constraint, the value of harvest decreases
proportionally as the difference between the goal and expected population size increases. This balance of harvest
and population objectives results in a regulatory strategy that is more conservative than that for maximizing long-term
harvest, but more liberal than a strategy to attain the NAWMP goal (regardless of effects on hunting
opportunity). The current objective uses a population goal of 8.5 million mallards, which is based on 7.9 million
14
mallards from the WBPHS (strata 13–18, 20–50, and 75–77) based on the 1998 update of the NAWMP and a goal
of 0.6 million for the combined states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
For eastern and western mallards, there is no NAWMP goal or other established target for desired population size.
Accordingly, the management objective for eastern and western mallards is simply to maximize long-term
cumulative (i.e., sustainable) harvest. Additionally for western mallards, maximum long-term cumulative harvest
is subject to a constraint intended to prevent extreme changes in regulations associated with relatively small
changes in population sizes.
REGULATORY ALTERNATIVES
Evolution of Alternatives
When AHM was first implemented in 1995, three regulatory alternatives characterized as liberal, moderate, and
restrictive were defined based on regulations used during 1979–84, 1985–87, and 1988–93, respectively. These
regulatory alternatives also were considered for the 1996 hunting season. In 1997, the regulatory alternatives
were modified to include: (1) the addition of a very-restrictive alternative; (2) additional days and a higher duck
bag limit in the moderate and liberal alternatives; and (3) an increase in the bag limit of hen mallards in the
moderate and liberal alternatives. In 2002 the USFWS further modified the moderate and liberal alternatives to
include extensions of approximately one week in both the opening and closing framework dates.
In 2003 the very-restrictive alternative was eliminated at the request of the Flyway Councils. Expected harvest
rates under the very-restrictive alternative did not differ significantly from those under the restrictive alternative,
and the very-restrictive alternative was expected to be prescribed for < 5% of all hunting seasons. Also in 2003,
at the request of the Flyway Councils the USFWS agreed to exclude closed duck-hunting seasons from the AHM
protocol when the population size of mid-continent mallards was ≥ 5.5 million (WBPHS strata 1–18, 20–50, and
75–77 plus the Great Lakes region). Based on our original assessment, closed hunting seasons did not appear to
be necessary from the perspective of sustainable harvesting when the mid-continent mallard population exceeded
this level. The impact of maintaining open seasons above this level also appeared negligible for other mid-continent
duck species, as based on population models developed by Johnson (2003).
This year, based on the re-definition of the mid-continent mallard stock that excludes mallards breeding in Alaska,
we re-scaled the closed-season constraint. Initially, we attempted to adjust the original 5.5 million closure
threshold by subtracting out the 1985 Alaska breeding population estimate, which was the year upon which the
original closed season constraint was based. Our initial re-scaling resulted in a new threshold equal to 5.25
million. Simulations based on optimal policies using this revised closed season constraint suggested that the
Mississippi and Central Flyways would experience a 70% increase in the frequency of closed seasons. At this
time, we agreed to consider alternative re-scalings in order to minimize the effects on the mid-continent mallard
strategy and account for the increase in mean breeding population sizes in Alaska over the past several decades.
Based on this assessment, we recommended a revised closed season constraint of 4.75 million which resulted in a
strategy performance equivalent to the performance expected prior to the re-definition of the mid-continent
mallard stock. Because the performance of the revised strategy is essentially unchanged from the original
strategy, we believe it will have no greater impact on other duck stocks in the Mississippi and Central Flyways.
However, complete or partial season-closures for particular species or populations could still be deemed necessary
in some situations regardless of the status of mid-continent mallards. Details of the regulatory alternatives for
each Flyway are provided in Table 4.
Table 4. Regulatory alternatives for the 2008 duck-hunting season.
15
Flyway
Regulation Atlantica Mississippi Centralb Pacificc
Shooting hours one-half hour before sunrise to sunset
Framework dates
Restrictive Oct 1 – Jan 20 Saturday nearest Oct 1to the Sunday nearest Jan 20
Moderate and
Liberal
Saturday nearest September 24
to the last Sunday in January
Season length (days)
Restrictive 30 30 39 60
Moderate 45 45 60 86
Liberal 60 60 74 107
Bag limit (total / mallard / female mallard)
Restrictive 3 / 3 / 1 3 / 2 / 1 3 / 3 / 1 4 / 3 / 1
Moderate 6 / 4 / 2 6 / 4 / 1 6 / 5 / 1 7 / 5 / 2
Liberal 6 / 4 / 2 6 / 4 / 2 6 / 5 / 2 7 / 7 / 2
a The states of Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, West
Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina are permitted to exclude Sundays, which are closed to hunting, from
their total allotment of season days.
b The High Plains Mallard Management Unit is allowed 12, 23, and 23 extra days in the restrictive, moderate,
and liberal alternatives, respectively.
c The Columbia Basin Mallard Management Unit is allowed seven extra days in the restrictive, and moderate
alternatives.
Regulation-Specific Harvest Rates
Harvest rates of mallards associated with each of the open-season regulatory alternatives were initially predicted
using harvest-rate estimates from 1979–84, which were adjusted to reflect current hunter numbers and
contemporary specifications of season lengths and bag limits. In the case of closed seasons in the U.S., we
assumed rates of harvest would be similar to those observed in Canada during 1988–93, which was a period of
restrictive regulations both in Canada and the U.S. All harvest-rate predictions were based only in part on band-recovery
data, and relied heavily on models of hunting effort and success derived from hunter surveys (Appendix
C in USFWS 2002). As such, these predictions had large sampling variances and their accuracy was uncertain.
In 2002, we began relying on Bayesian statistical methods for improving regulation-specific predictions of harvest
rates, including predictions of the effects of framework-date extensions. Essentially, the idea is to use existing
(prior) information to develop initial harvest-rate predictions (as above), to make regulatory decisions based on
those predictions, and then to observe realized harvest rates. Those observed harvest rates, in turn, are treated as
new sources of information for calculating updated (posterior) predictions. Bayesian methods are attractive
because they provide a quantitative and formal, yet intuitive, approach to adaptive management.
16
For mid-continent mallards, we have empirical estimates of harvest rate from the recent period of liberal hunting
regulations (1998–2007). The Bayesian methods thus allow us to combine these estimates with our prior
predictions to provide updated estimates of harvest rates expected under the liberal regulatory alternative.
Moreover, in the absence of experience (so far) with the restrictive and moderate regulatory alternatives, we
reasoned that our initial predictions of harvest rates associated with those alternatives should be re-scaled based
on a comparison of predicted and observed harvest rates under the liberal regulatory alternative. In other words,
if observed harvest rates under the liberal alternative were 10% less than predicted, then we might also expect that
the mean harvest rate under the moderate alternative would be 10% less than predicted. The appropriate scaling
factors currently are based exclusively on prior beliefs about differences in mean harvest rate among regulatory
alternatives, but they will be updated once we have experience with something other than the liberal alternative.
A detailed description of the analytical framework for modeling mallard harvest rates is provided in Appendix 5.
Our models of regulation-specific harvest rates also allow for the marginal effect of framework-date
extensions in the moderate and liberal alternatives. A previous analysis by the USFWS (2001) suggested
that implementation of framework-date extensions might be expected to increase the harvest rate of mid-continent
mallards by about 15%, or in absolute terms by about 0.02 (SD = 0.01). Based on the observed
harvest rates during the 2002–2007 hunting seasons, the updated (posterior) estimate of the marginal
change in harvest rate attributable to the framework-date extension is 0.006 (SD = 0.008). The estimated
effect of the framework-date extension has been to increase harvest rate of mid-continent mallards by
about 5% over what would otherwise be expected in the liberal alternative. However, the reader is
strongly cautioned that reliable inference about the marginal effect of framework-date extensions
ultimately depends on a rigorous experimental design (including controls and random application of
treatments).
Current predictions of harvest rates of adult-male mid-continent mallards associated with each of the regulatory
alternatives are provided in Table 5. Predictions of harvest rates for the other age-sex cohorts are based on the
historical ratios of cohort-specific harvest rates to adult-male rates (Runge et al. 2002). These ratios are
considered fixed at their long-term averages and are 1.5407, 0.7191, and 1.1175 for young males, adult females,
and young females, respectively. We make the simplifying assumption that the harvest rates of mid-continent
mallards depend solely on the regulatory choice in the Mississippi and Central Flyways.
Table 5. Predictions of harvest rates of adult-male mid-continent mallards expected with
application of the 2008 regulatory alternatives in the Mississippi and Central Flyways.
Regulatory alternative Mean SD
Closed (U.S.) 0.0088 0.0019
Restrictive 0.0560 0.0129
Moderate 0.0978 0.0216
Liberal 0.1153 0.0207
The predicted harvest rates of eastern-mallard are updated in the same fashion as that for mid-continent mallards
17
based on reward banding conducted in eastern Canada and the northeastern U.S. (Appendix 5). Like mid-continent
mallards, harvest rates of age and sex cohorts other than adult male mallards are based on constant rates
of differential vulnerability as derived from band-recovery data. For eastern mallards, these constants are 1.153,
1.331, and 1.509 for adult females, young males, and young females, respectively (Johnson et al. 2002a).
Regulation-specific predictions of harvest rates of adult-male eastern mallards are provided in Table 6.
In contrast to mid-continent mallards, framework-date extensions were expected to increase the harvest rate of
eastern mallards by only about 5% (USFWS 2001), or in absolute terms by about 0.01 (SD = 0.01). Based on the
observed harvest rates during the 2002–2007 hunting seasons, the updated (posterior) estimate of the marginal
change in harvest rate attributable to the framework-date extension is 0.004 (SD = 0.010). The estimated effect of
the framework-date extension has been to increase harvest rate of eastern mallards by about 3% over what would
otherwise be expected in the liberal alternative.
Table 6. Predictions of harvest rates of adult-male eastern mallards expected with
application of the 2008 regulatory alternatives in the Atlantic Flyway.
Regulatory alternative Mean SD
Closed (U.S.) 0.0789 0.0233
Restrictive 0.1126 0.0394
Moderate 0.1407 0.0471
Liberal 0.1528 0.0446
Based on available estimates of harvest rates of mallards banded in California and Oregon during 1990–1995 and
2002–2007, there is no apparent relationship between harvest rate and regulatory changes in the Pacific Flyway.
This is unusual given our ability to document such a relationship in other mallard stocks and in other species. We
note, however, that the period 2002–2007 was comprised of both stable and liberal regulations and harvest rate
estimates were based solely on reward bands. Regulations were relatively restrictive during most of the earlier
period and harvest rates were estimated based on standard bands using reporting rates estimated from reward
banding during 1987–1988. Additionally, 1993–1995 were transition years in which full-address and toll-free
bands were being introduced and information to assess their reporting rates (and their effects on reporting rates of
standard bands) is limited. Thus, the two periods in which we wish to compare harvest rates are characterized not
only by changes in regulations, but also in estimation methods.
Consequently, we lack a sound empirical basis for predicting harvest rates of western mallards associated with
current regulatory alternatives in the Pacific Flyway. For this year, however, we specified regulation-specific
harvest rates with associated standard deviations for the closed, restrictive, moderate, and liberal alternatives
(Table 7). Harvest rates for the liberal alternative were based on empirical estimates realized under the current
liberal alternative during 2002–2007 and determined from adult-male mallards banded with reward bands in
California and Oregon. Harvest rates for the moderate and restrictive alternatives were based on the proportional
(0.85 and 0.51) difference in harvest rates expected for mid-continent mallards under the respective alternatives.
A relatively large standard deviation (CV=0.3) was chosen to reflect greater uncertainty about the means than that
for mid-continent mallards (CV=0.2). And finally, harvest rate for the closed alternative was based on what we
might realize with a closed season in the U.S. (including Alaska) and a very restrictive season in Canada, similar
to that for mid-continent mallards. Prior to next year, assumptions about harvest rates will be reviewed and
modified if appropriate. Further, we intend to develop a Bayesian hierarchical framework to update harvest rate
estimates as experience allows. This framework will be analogous to that currently in use for mid-continent and
eastern mallards (refer to Appendix 5).
Table 7. Predictions of harvest rates of adult-male western mallards expected with
18
application of the 2008 regulatory alternatives in the Atlantic Flyway.
Regulatory alternative Mean SD
Closed (U.S.) 0.110 0.010
Restrictive 0.090 0.030
Moderate 0.060 0.020
Liberal 0.001 0.002
OPTIMAL REGULATORY STRATEGIES
We calculated optimal regulatory strategies using stochastic dynamic programming (Lubow 1995, Johnson and
Williams 1999). For the Mississippi and Central Flyways, we based this optimization on: (1) the 2008 regulatory
alternatives, including the closed-season constraint; (2) current population models and associated weights for mid-continent
mallards; and (3) the dual objectives of maximizing long-term cumulative harvest and achieving a
population goal of 8.5 million mid-continent mallards. The resulting regulatory strategy reflects the changes
resulting from the removal of Alaska from the mid-continent stock (Table 8). Note that prescriptions for closed
seasons in this strategy represent resource conditions that are insufficient to support one of the current regulatory
alternatives, given current harvest-management objectives and constraints. However, closed seasons under all of
these conditions are not necessarily required for long-term resource protection, and simply reflect the NAWMP
population goal and the nature of the current regulatory alternatives. Assuming that regulatory choices adhered to
this strategy (and that current model weights accurately reflect population dynamics), breeding-population size
would be expected to average 6.82 million (SD = 1.83 million). Based on an estimated population size of 7.87
million mid-continent mallards and 3.05 million ponds in Prairie Canada, the optimal choice for the Mississippi
and Central Flyways in 2008 is the liberal regulatory alternative.
We calculated an optimal regulatory strategy for the Atlantic Flyway based on: (1) the 2008 regulatory
alternatives; (2) current population models and associated weights for eastern mallards; and (3) an objective to
maximize long-term cumulative harvest. The resulting strategy suggests liberal regulations for all population sizes
of record, and is characterized by a lack of intermediate regulations (Table 9). We simulated the use of this
regulatory strategy to determine expected performance characteristics. Assuming that harvest management
adhered to this strategy (and that current model weights accurately reflect population dynamics), breeding-population
size would be expected to average 891 thousand (SD = 17 thousand). Based on an estimated breeding
population size of 815 thousand mallards, the optimal choice for the Atlantic Flyway in 2008 is the liberal
regulatory alternative.
We calculated an optimal regulatory strategy for the Pacific Flyway based on: (1) the 2008 regulatory
alternatives, (2) current (1990–2007) population models and parameter estimates, and (3) an objective to
maximize long-term cumulative harvest subject to a constraint intended to prevent extreme changes in regulations
associated with relatively small changes in population sizes (Table 10). We simulated the use of this regulatory
strategy to determine expected performance characteristics. Assuming that harvest management adhered to this
strategy (and that current model parameters accurately reflect population dynamics), breeding-population size
would be expected to average 1.1 million (SD = 0.21 million) in Alaska and 0.48 million (SD = 0.03 million) in
California and Oregon. Based on an estimated breeding population size of 532 thousand mallards in Alaska and
381 thousand in California and Oregon, the optimal choice for the Pacific Flyway in 2008 is the liberal regulatory
alternative (see Table 10).
19
Table 8. Optimal regulatory strategya for the Mississippi and Central Flyways for the 2008 hunting season. This strategy is
based on current regulatory alternatives (including the closed-season constraint), on current mid-continent mallard models and
weights, and on the dual objectives of maximizing long-term cumulative harvest and achieving a population goal of 8.5 million
mallards. The shaded cell indicates the regulatory prescription for 2008.
Pondsc
Bpopb
1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0
≤ 4.5 C C C C C C C C C C
4.75–5.50 R R R R R R R R R R
5.75 R R R R R R R R R M
6.00 R R R R R R R M L L
6.25 R R R R M M M L L L
6.50 R R R M M L L L L L
6.75 R M M L L L L L L L
7.00 M M L L L L L L L L
≥ 7.25 L L L L L L L L L L
a C = closed season, R = restrictive, M = moderate, L = liberal.
b Mallard breeding population size (in millions) in the WBPHS (strata 13–18, 20–50, 75–77) and Michigan, Minnesota, and
Wisconsin.
c Ponds (in millions) in Prairie Canada in May.
Table 9. Optimal regulatory strategya for the Atlantic Flyway for
the 2008 hunting season. This strategy is based on current
regulatory alternatives, on current eastern mallard models and
weights, and on an objective to maximize long-term cumulative
harvest. The shaded cell indicates the regulatory prescription for
2008.
Mallardsb Regulation
≤ 250 C
300 R
≥ 350 L
a C = closed season, R = restrictive, M = moderate, and L = liberal.
b Estimated number of mallards in eastern Canada (WBPHS
strata 51–54, 56) and the northeastern U.S. (AFBWS), in
thousands.
20
Table 10. Optimal regulatory strategya for the Pacific Flyway during the 2008 hunting season. This strategy is based on the
2008 regulatory alternatives, current (1990–07) population models and parameter estimates, and an objective to maximize
long-term cumulative harvest subject to a constraint intended to prevent extreme changes in regulations associated with
relatively small changes in population sizes. The shaded cell indicates the regulatory prescription for 2008.
CA-OR Alaska BPOPb
BPOPb 0 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50 ≥ 0.55
0 C C L L L L L L L L L L
0.05 C C R R R R R R M L L L
0.10 C R R R R R R M L L L L
0.15 R R R R R M L L L L L L
0.20 R R R R M L L L L L L L
0.25 R R M M L L L L L L L L
0.30 M L L L L L L L L L L L
0.35 L L L L L L L L L L L L
0.40 L L L L L L L L L L L L
≥ 0.45 L L L L L L L L L L L L
a C = closed season, R = restrictive, M = moderate, and L = liberal.
b Estimated number of mallards in millions for Alaska (WBPHS strata 1–12) and in California and Oregon.
Application of AHM Concepts to Other Stocks
The USFWS is striving to apply the principles and tools of AHM to improve decision-making for several other
stocks of waterfowl. We report on four such efforts in which progress has been made since last year.
American Black Ducks
Beginning in 2003, the USFWS Division of Migratory Bird Management (DMBM) began investigating optimal
harvest strategies for black ducks based on models of population dynamics provided by Conroy et al. (2002). As
a result of that investigation DMBM concluded that recent harvest rates of black ducks have sometimes been at or
above levels consistent with an objective to maximize sustainable harvest. That conclusion ultimately led to a
DMBM recommendation in January 2006 to reduce the harvest rate of adult black ducks by 25%. However, the
recommendation was subsequently withdrawn because of: (1) published information suggesting that the mid-winter
inventory (MWI) may be “capturing” a smaller proportion of the black duck population than in the past
(Link et al. 2006); (2) concern about the U.S. acting unilaterally without the benefit of consultation with the
CWS; and (3) the short amount of time available to communicate to the public the rationale and nature of
restrictions on hunting opportunity.
In November 2006 the international Black Duck Adaptive Harvest Management Working Group (BDAHMWG)
met to discuss the most recent analysis by Drs. Mike Conroy and Jon Runge of the Georgia Cooperative Fish and
Wildlife Research Unit. Their update of the original analysis by Conroy et al. (2002) suggests that black duck
productivity has continued to decline for reasons that cannot be explained by changes in abundance of black
ducks (through density dependence) or sympatric mallards (through inter-species competition). However, there
were other differences in inferences based on the original and updated analyses that could not be reconciled. The
focus of research has now turned to population models based on integrated fixed-wing and helicopter surveys
21
conducted during the breeding season. For the present, however, the question of whether current harvest rates of
black ducks are consistent with black duck harvest potential and management objectives remains unanswered.
In 2006, due to potential changes in the wintering distribution of black ducks, the BDAHMWG did not endorse a
state-dependent harvest strategy (i.e., one in which optimal harvest rates depend on annual black duck abundance)
based on the MWI. However, it was suggested that a constant harvest-rate strategy may perform nearly as well
and might provide a basis for a joint Canada-U.S. harvest strategy until an assessment based on integrated
breeding-season surveys can be completed. The BDAHMWG agreed to investigate the performance of constant
harvest-rate strategies based on the original work of Conroy et al. (2002), recognizing that the original analysis
was conducted prior to what may be significant changes in the wintering distribution of black ducks. Thus, it was
agreed that the assessment by Conroy et al. (2002) might still provide a reasonable basis for investigating harvest
impacts and for evaluating the expected performance of constant harvest-rate strategies. Working within this
framework, the BDAHMWG developed a harvest strategy for consideration during the summer of 2007.
Negotiations among the CWS, USFWS, Atlantic Flyway, and Mississippi Flyway regarding this harvest strategy
failed to reach consensus on several critical issues, namely the specification of an appropriate harvest
management objective and on a mechanism for allocating black duck harvest among the U.S. and Canada. In
2007, the USFWS and CWS agreed to provide a forum through which these outstanding issues could be debated
and addressed. This led to the formation of the Black Duck International Management Group. This committee
consists of policy makers from the CWS, USFWS, Atlantic Flyway, and Mississippi Flyway.
In February 2008, the Black Duck International Management Group met in Ottawa, Ontario to address these and
other issues, to review progress on development of a fully adaptive harvest strategy based on integrated breeding
population estimates, and to outline the elements of an interim harvest strategy that would be in place until the
fully derived strategy is available. At this meeting, the Management Group reached agreement on an interim,
prescribed international harvest strategy. This strategy was discussed by the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyways
during their winter meetings. Recommendations from these meetings were considered by the Management Group
who incorporated many of them into the final proposed interim harvest strategy. The final strategy was endorsed
by the USFWS in June 2008 and will be used to guide harvest management decisions in the U.S. and Canada for 3
years unless a fully adaptive protocol is proposed and endorsed by both nations before the end of the 3-year
period. If, at the end of 3 years, a fully adaptive strategy is not ready for implementation, the Management Group
will review the interim strategy for possible revision and/or extension.
Presently, Dr. Mike Conroy of the Georgia Fish and Wildlife Cooperative Research Unit is developing a revised
set of models and a revised adaptive decision framework for black ducks based on integrated breeding population
survey estimates. The Black Duck International Management Group is coordinating with Dr. Conroy to ensure
that he has all required policy guidance (e.g., agreed upon management objective and constraints, agreed upon
harvest allocation rules) to complete development of the decision framework.
Atlantic Population of Canada Geese
For the purposes of this AHM application, Atlantic Population Canada Geese (APCG) are defined as those geese
breeding on the Ungava Peninsula. By this delineation, we assume that geese in the Atlantic population outside
this area are either few in number, similar in population dynamics to the Ungava birds, or both.
To account for heterogeneity among individuals, we developed a base model consisting of a truncated time-invariant
age-based projection model to describe the dynamics of APCG:
n(t+1)=An(t),
where n(t) is a vector of the abundances of the ages in the population at time t, and A is the population projection
matrix, whose ijth entry aij gives the contribution of an individual in stage j to stage i over 1 time step. The
22
projection interval (from
t to t+1) is one year,
with the census being
taken in mid- June (i.e., this
model has a pre-breeding
census). The life cycle
diagram reflecting the
transition sequence is:
where node 1 refers to one-year-old birds (N(1)), node 2 refers to two-year-old birds (N(2)), node B refers to adult
breeders (N(B)), and node NB refers to adult non-breeders N(NB). One immediate extension of the base model is to
remove the assumption of time-invariance, and express the parameters as time-dependent quantities:
Pt = proportion of adult birds in population in year t which breed;
Rt = basic breeding productivity in year t (per capita);
St
(0) = annual survival rate of young from fledging in year t to the census point the next year;
St
(1) = annual survival rate of one-year-old birds in year t; etc.
For APCG, only N(B), R and z are observable annually, where N(B) is the number of breeding adults, R is the per
capita reproductive rate (ratio of fledged young to breeding adults), and z is an extrinsic, environmental variable
(a function of timing of snow melt on the breeding grounds) that is used to predict R.
Note that at the time of the management decision in the United States (July), estimates for only the breeding
population size and the environmental variable(s) are available; the age-ratio isn’t estimated until later in the
summer. Thus, in year t, the observable state variables are Nt
(B), zt, and Rt–1.
There are several other state variables of interest, however, namely, N(1), N(2), and N(NB). Because annual harvest
decisions need to be made based on the total population size (Ntot), which is the sum of contributions from various
non-breeding age classes as well as the number of breeding individuals, abundance of non-breeding individuals
23
(N(NB), N(1), and N(2)) needs to be derived using population-reconstruction techniques. In most cases, population
reconstruction involves estimating the most likely population projection matrix, given a time series of population
vectors (where number of individuals in each age class at each time is known). However, in our case, only
estimates of NB, R and z are available (not the complete population vector); in effect, we must estimate some of
the population abundance values given the other parameters in the model. We developed a fully integrated
Bayesian hierarchical model to reconstruct goose population dynamics and formally estimate the unobserved
population parameters. With this approach, the survival, recruitment, and reconstruction analyses are embedded
into a common estimation platform that allows us to estimate the age structure of the population while
simultaneously accounting for all forms of sampling uncertainty.
The time series of breeding population size, age-ratio, and band recovery data were used to reconstruct the
population structure from 1997 to 2007, using a density-independent model (Fig. 7A). The estimated population
structure in 2007 is: 369.5 thousand breeding adults, 70.3 thousand non-breeding adults, 270.8 thousand second-year
birds, and 357.9 thousand first-year birds (Fig. 7B). The density-independent model projects significant
increases in the number of breeding pairs (~25% over the next two years) as these two sizeable cohorts come of
age.
Fig. 7. A. APCG breeding population size (in thousands), 1997–2007, with fitted values from
reconstruction (Model 1: density-independent). The closed circles show the observed estimates
of breeding population size (not breeding pairs); errors bars are ±2 SE. The solid line shows the
breeding population size estimated from the population reconstruction (gray shading represents
the 95% credibility interval). B. The age structure of the reconstructed population.
We require a way to forecast changes in population sizes as a function of the current population structure, the
intended harvest rate, and the observed weather variables. We have begun developing 4 alternative models to
capture the key uncertainties in our ability to predict population changes. These models include density-independent
population growth, density-dependent survival, density-dependent breeding propensity, and reporting
bias. We will parameterize these models with the integrated modeling framework while also estimating the
process variance.
An example harvest strategy for the density-independent model is shown in Fig. 8. The strategy suggests a closed
season under the 2007 population and environmental conditions, in order to increase more quickly toward the
desired population size. Note that the recommended harvest rate is not strongly affected by the measure of
current environmental conditions on the breeding grounds. The policy is very sensitive to the number of breeding
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
100000 200000 300000 400000
Number of Breeders
Observed
Reconstructed
A
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Numbers at Age in Thousands
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Juveniles
Two Year Olds
Breeding Adults
NonBreeding Adults
B
24
adults and second-year birds, while harvest recommendations are strongly affected by uncertainty about the
underlying population dynamics. We are starting to develop methods to weight the alternative models and
produce a composite optimal policy; such development is a high priority. In addition, we are in the process of
fitting the projection models to develop the model set and have begun exploring how to soften the knife-edge
property of the policy by including a cost function in the optimization.
Fig. 8. Examples of optimal harvest strategies for 2007 for models 1 (density-independent). These
matrices show the breeding population size against the measure of breeding habitat conditions (principal
component of the weather variables), with the other values of the population vector (NNB, N2, N1) fixed at
their 2007 reconstructed values.
Northern Pintails
The Flyway Councils have long identified the northern pintail as a high-priority species for inclusion in the AHM
process. In 1997, the USFWS adopted a pintail harvest strategy to help align harvest opportunity with population
status, while providing a foundation upon which to develop a formal AHM framework. Since 1997, the harvest
strategy has undergone a number of technical improvements and policy revisions. However, the strategy
continues to be a set of regulatory prescriptions born out of consensus, rather than an optimal strategy derived
from agreed-upon population models, management objectives, regulatory alternatives, and measures of
uncertainty.
-2 0 2
0
2
4
6
8
0 2 4 6 8
0
2
4
6
8
0 2 4 6 8
0
2
4
6
8
0 2 4 6 8
0
2
4
6
8
Environmental Variable First-yr birds
Second-yr birds Non-breeders
Breeding Population Size
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
AM harvest rate
25
In 2007, the USFWS and Flyway Councils took a major step towards a truly adaptive approach by incorporating
alternative models of population dynamics. Two models are considered: one in which harvest is additive to
natural mortality, and another in which harvest losses are compensated for by reductions in natural mortality. In
the additive model, winter survival rate is a constant, whereas winter survival is density-dependent in the
compensatory model. We here provide a summary of these recent modeling efforts. A detailed progress report is
available on-line at http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/mgmt/ahm/special-topics.htm.
The predicted cBPOPt in year t + 1 ( t+1 cBPOP ) for the additive harvest mortality model is calculated as
{ } t t s R t t w cBPOP cBPOP s (1 Rˆ ) Hˆ /(1 c) s 1 = + − − + γ
where t cBPOP is the latitude-adjusted breeding population size in year t, s s and w s are the summer and winter
survival rates, respectively, R γ is a bias-correction constant for the age-ratio, c is the crippling loss rate, t Rˆ
is the
predicted age-ratio, and t Hˆ
is the predicted continental harvest. Discussion of t Rˆ
and t Hˆ
submodels are found
in the following sections. The model uses the following constants: s s = 0.07, w s = 0.93, R γ = 0.8, and c = 0.20.
The compensatory harvest mortality model serves as a hypothesis that stands in contrast to the additive harvest
mortality model, positing a strong but realistic degree of compensation. The compensatory model assumes that
the mechanism for compensation is density-dependent post-harvest (winter) survival. The form is a logistic
relationship between winter survival and post-harvest population size, with the relationship anchored around the
historic mean values for each variable. For the compensatory model then, predicted winter survival rate in year t
( t s ) is calculated as
[ ( ( )) ] 1
0 1 0 ( )1 = + − + − a+b P −P −
t
s s s s e t ,
where 1 s (upper asymptote) is 1.0, 0 s (lower asymptote) is 0.7, b (slope term) is -1.0, t P is the post-harvest
population size in year t (expressed in millions), P is the mean post-harvest population size (4.295 million from
1974 through 2005), and
a = logit 0
1 0
s s
s s
⎛ − ⎞
⎜ − ⎟ ⎝ ⎠
or
⎭ ⎬ ⎫
⎩ ⎨ ⎧
⎟ ⎟⎠
⎞
⎜ ⎜⎝
⎛
−
−
− − ⎟ ⎟⎠
⎞
⎜ ⎜⎝ ⎛
−
−
=
1 0
0
1 0
log 0 log 1
s s
s s
s s
a s s ,
where s is 0.93 (mean winter survival rate).
At moderate population size and latitude, the compensatory model allows for greater harvest (Fig. 10) than does
the additive model (note especially that the size of the restrictive region [season-within-a-season] is smaller and is
invoked when the latitude is higher). Also, 2- and 3-bird bag limits are called for under more circumstances. But,
at high population sizes, the higher bag limits are called for less often, because the compensatory model predicts
that growth of the population will be slower (density-dependence).
The fit to historic data was used to compare the additive and compensatory harvest models. From the t cBPOP ,
t mLAT , and observed harvest ( t H ) for the period 1974–through year t, the subsequent year’s breeding
population size (on the latitude-adjusted scale) was predicted with both the additive and compensatory model, and
26
compared to the observed breeding population size (on the latitude-adjusted scale). The mean-squared error of
the predictions from the additive model ( add MSE ) was calculated as:
Σ
=
−
− +
=
t
t
add
add t t cBPOP cBPOP
t
MSE
1975
( )2
( 1975) 1
1
and the mean-squared error of the predictions from the compensatory model were calculated in a similar manner.
The model weights for the additive and compensatory model were calculated from their relative mean-squared
errors. The model weight for the additive model ( add W ) was calculated as:
add comp
add
add
MSE MSE
W MSE
1 1
1
+
= .
The model weight for the compensatory model was found in a corresponding manner, or by subtracting the
additive model weight from 1.0. As of 2007, the compensatory model did not fit the historic data as well as the
additive model; the model weights were 0.597 for the additive model and 0.403 for the compensatory model,
unchanged from 2006. The 2007 average model calls for a strategy that is intermediate between the additive and
compensatory models (Fig. 9).
27
Fig. 9. State-dependent harvest strategy for northern pintails with (A) additive, (B)
compensatory, and (C) 2007 weighted models. In each case the strategy assumes that
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Average Latitude of the BPOP
Closed
Restrictive
Liberal (1 -bird)
Liberal (3 -birds)
L2
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Average Latitude of the BPOP
Closed
Restrictive
Liberal (1 -bird)
Liberal (3 -birds)
L2
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Average Latitude of the BPOP
Pintail BPOP (millions)
Closed
Restrictive
Liberal (1 -bird)
Liberal (3 -birds)
L2
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
(A) Additive Model
(B) Compensatory Model
(C) 2006 Weighted Model
22000076 28
the general duck hunting season is that prescribed under the liberal regulatory alternative.
Scaup
In 2007, the USFWS proposed an assessment and decision-making framework to inform scaup harvest
management (Boomer and Johnson 2007). This framework was not adopted, partly in response to concerns raised
by the waterfowl management community that argued for a delay in implementation to facilitate the discussion of
the outstanding technical and policy issues relating to the proposed scaup decision-making framework. In
response to this call for increased communication, the USFWS addressed a wide range of questions and concerns
regarding the proposed strategy at the 2007 AHM working group meeting. A key outcome of this meeting was
the recommendation of the AHM working group for the USFWS to develop an alternative model that would
capture the belief that the scaup population will continue to decline to some lower equilibrium level in response to
a declining carrying capacity and that harvest at current levels will be completely compensatory. As a result, the
USFWS agreed to consider the development of this alternative model.
To further our communication efforts with the Flyways, we outlined methods to facilitate the specification of
regulatory alternatives for scaup harvest management (Boomer et al. 2007). We proposed harvest thresholds to be
considered under regulatory packages based on a simulation of an optimal policy that was derived under an
objective to achieve 95% of the long term cumulative harvest. We used an objective of 95% because it results in
a strategy less sensitive to small change in population size as compared to a strategy derived under an objective to
achieve 100% of long term cumulative harvest. In addition, the 95% objective allows for some harvest
opportunity at relatively low population sizes. We have continued to work with the Flyways to determine what
regulations would achieve the allowable harvest thresholds set forth in the scoping document (Boomer et al.
2007). Decisions regarding Flyway specific regulations will be discussed and finalized during this year’s late
season regulations meetings.
This year, the USFWS Migratory Bird Regulations Committee decided to implement the scaup decision-making
framework as proposed in 2007, while also supporting the development of an alternative model.
The lack of scaup demographic information over a sufficient timeframe and at a continental scale precludes the
use of a traditional balance equation to represent scaup population and harvest dynamics. As a result, we used a
discrete-time, stochastic, logistic-growth population model to represent changes in scaup abundance, while
explicitly accounting for scaling issues associated with the monitoring data. Details describing the modeling and
assessment framework that has been developed for scaup can be found in Appendix 6.
We updated the scaup assessment based on the current model formulation and data extending from 1974 through
2007. As in past analyses, the state space formulation and Bayesian analysis framework provided reasonable fits
to the observed breeding population and total harvest estimates with realistic measures of variation. The posterior
mean estimate of the intrinsic rate of increase (r) is 0.101 while the posterior mean estimate of the carrying
capacity (K) is 8.38 million birds. The posterior mean estimate of the scaling parameter (q) is 0.537, ranging
between 0.464 and 0.620 with 95% probability.
We calculated an optimal regulatory strategy for scaup harvest management based on: (1) a control variable of
total harvest (U.S. and Canada combined), (2) current population model and updated parameter estimates, and (3)
an objective to achieve 95% of the long-term cumulative harvest. We simulated the use of this regulatory strategy
to determine expected performance characteristics. Assuming that harvest management adhered to this strategy
29
(and that current model parameters accurately reflect population dynamics), breeding-population size would be
expected to average 4.59 million (SD = 0.87 million). Based on an estimated breeding population size of 3.74
million scaup, the optimal harvest level for scaup is 200 thousand (Table 11). Based on the harvest thresholds
specified in the scoping document, this year’s optimal harvest would correspond to the restrictive regulatory
alternative.
The USFWS intends to continue to work with the Flyways to determine acceptable harvest-management
objectives and regulatory alternatives to be used in the decision-making framework for scaup harvest
management. Ultimately, we would like to work towards the establishment of scaup regulatory alternatives to be
finalized during next year’s early season regulations process. Through collaboration with the Flyways, we will
continue to develop predicted harvest distributions associated with each Flyway’s regulatory alternatives so that
these predictions will then form a basis to specify a set of regulatory packages as the control variable to be used in
the derivation of next year’s optimal regulatory alternative. Moreover, the USFWS will work toward continued
collaboration with the waterfowl management community as we move forward with the development of an
alternative model to predict scaup population dynamics.
Table 11. Optimal scaup harvest levels (observed scale in
millions) and corresponding breeding population sizes (in
millions). This strategy is based on the current scaup population
model, and an objective to maximize 95% of long-term
cumulative harvest. The shaded cell indicates the optimal
harvest level for 2008.
BPOP Optimal Harvest
1.0 – 1.9 0
2.0 – 2.5 0.05
2.6 – 3.0 0.1
3.1 – 3.3 0.15
3.4 – 3.8 0.2
3.9 – 4.1 0.25
4.2 – 4.4 0.3
4.5 – 4.8 0.35
4.9 – 5.1 0.4
30
LITERATURE CITED
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survival. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Resource Publication No. 128. 66pp.
Blohm, R. J. 1989. Introduction to harvest - understanding surveys and season setting. Proceedings of the
International Waterfowl Symposium 6:118–133.
Blohm, R. J., R. E. Reynolds, J. P. Bladen, J. D. Nichols, J. E. Hines, K. P. Pollock, and R. T. Eberhardt. 1987.
Mallard mortality rates on key breeding and wintering areas. Transactions of the North American
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scaup harvest management. Unpublished Report. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Laurel, MD. 26pp.
[online] URL: http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/reports/SpecialTopics/SCAUP2007ReportFINAL.pdf
Boomer, G. S., F. A. Johnson, M. D. Koneff, T. A. Sanders, and R. E. Trost. 2007. A process to determine scaup
regulatory alternatives. Unpublished Scoping Document. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Laurel, MD.
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Brooks, S. P., and A. Gelman. 1998 Alternative methods for monitoring convergence of iterative simulations.
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Burnham, K. P., G. C. White, and D. R. Anderson. 1984. Estimating the effect of hunting on annual survival rates
of adult mallards. Journal of Wildlife Management 48:350–361.
Conroy, M. J., M. W. Miller, and J. E. Hines. 2002. Identification and synthetic modeling of factors affecting
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Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 25pp.
Johnson, F. A. 2003. Population dynamics of ducks other than mallards in mid-continent North America. Draft.
Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Dept. Interior, Washington, D.C. 15pp.
Johnson, F. A., J. A. Dubovsky, M. C. Runge, and D. R. Eggeman. 2002a. A revised protocol for the adaptive
harvest management of eastern mallards. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Dept. Interior, Washington,
D.C. 13pp. [online] URL: http://migratorybirds.fws.gov/reports/ahm02/emal-ahm-2002.pdf.
Johnson, F. A., W. L. Kendall, and J. A. Dubovsky. 2002b. Conditions and limitations on learning in the
adaptive management of mallard harvests. Wildlife Society Bulletin 30:176–185.
31
Johnson, F. A., C. T. Moore, W. L. Kendall, J. A. Dubovsky, D. F. Caithamer, J. R. Kelley, Jr., and B. K.
Williams. 1997. Uncertainty and the management of mallard harvests. Journal of Wildlife Management
61:202–216.
Johnson, F. A., and B. K. Williams. 1999. Protocol and practice in the adaptive management of waterfowl
harvests. Conservation Ecology 3(1): 8. [online] URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol3/iss1/art8.
Johnson, F. A., B. K. Williams, J. D. Nichols, J. E. Hines, W. L. Kendall, G. W. Smith, and D. F. Caithamer.
1993. Developing an adaptive management strategy for harvesting waterfowl in North America.
Transactions of the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference 58:565–583.
Johnson, F. A., B. K. Williams, and P. R. Schmidt. 1996. Adaptive decision-making in waterfowl harvest and
habitat management. Proceedings of the International Waterfowl Symposium 7:26–33.
Link, W. A., J. R. Sauer, and D. K. Niven. 2006. A hierarchical model for regional analysis of population change
using Christmas bird count data, with application to the American black duck. The Condor 108:13–24.
Lubow, B. C. 1995. SDP: Generalized software for solving stochastic dynamic optimization problems. Wildlife
Society Bulletin 23:738–742.
Meyer, R., and R. B. Millar. 1999. BUGS in Bayesian stock assessments. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and
Aquatic Sciences 56:1078–1086.
Millar, R. B., and R. Meyer. 2000. Non-linear state space modeling of fisheries biomass dynamics by using
Metropolis-Hastings within Gibbs sampling. Applied Statistics 49: 327–342.
Nichols, J. D., F. A. Johnson, and B. K. Williams. 1995a. Managing North American waterfowl in the face of
uncertainty. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 26:177–199.
Nichols, J. D., Reynolds, R. E., Blohm, R. J. Trost, R. E., Hines, J. E. and Bladen, J. P. 1995b. Geographic
variation in band reporting rates for mallards based on reward banding. Journal of Wildlife Management
59:697–708.
Runge, M. C., F. A. Johnson, J. A. Dubovsky, W. L. Kendall, J. Lawrence, and J. Gammonley. 2002. A revised
protocol for the adaptive harvest management of mid-continent mallards. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S.
Dept. Interior, Washington, D.C. 28pp. [online] URL:
http://migratorybirds.fws.gov/reports/ahm02/MCMrevise2002.pdf.
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marine fisheries. Bulletin of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission 1:25–56.
Smith, G. W. 1995. A critical review of the aerial and ground surveys of breeding waterfowl in North America.
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Spiegelhalter, D. J., A. Thomas, N. Best, and D. Lunn. 2003. WinBUGS 1.4 User manual. MRC Biostatistics
Unit, Institute of Public Health, Cambridge, UK.
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Interior, Washington. D.C. 43pp. [online] URL:
http://migratorybirds.fws.gov/reports/ahm00/ahm2000.pdf.
32
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2001. Framework-date extensions for duck hunting in the United States:
projected impacts & coping with uncertainty, U.S. Dept. Interior, Washington, D.C. 8pp. [online] URL:
http://migratorybirds.fws.gov/reports/ahm01/fwassess.pdf.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2002. Adaptive harvest management: 2002 duck hunting season. U.S. Dept.
Interior, Washington. D.C. 34pp. [online] URL:
http://migratorybirds.fws.gov/reports/ahm02/2002-AHM-report.pdf.
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374pp.
Williams, B. K., and F. A. Johnson. 1995. Adaptive management and the regulation of waterfowl harvests.
Wildlife Society Bulletin 23:430–436.
Williams, B. K., F. A. Johnson, and K. Wilkins. 1996. Uncertainty and the adaptive management of waterfowl
harvests. Journal of Wildlife Management 60:223–232.
33
APPENDIX 1: AHM Working Group
(Note: This list includes only permanent members of the AHM Working Group. Not listed here are numerous
persons from federal and state agencies that assist the Working Group on an ad-hoc basis.)
Coordinator:
Mark Koneff
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
11510 American Holly Drive
Laurel, Maryland 20708-4017
phone: 301-497-5648
fax: 301-497-5871
e-mail: mark_koneff@fws.gov
USFWS Representatives:
Bob Blohm (Region 9)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 N Fairfax Drive
MS MSP-4107
Arlington, VA 22203
phone: 703-358-1966
fax: 703-358-2272
e-mail: robert_blohm@fws.gov
Brad Bortner (Region 1)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
911 NE 11th Ave.
Portland, OR 97232-4181
phone: 503-231-6164
fax: 503-231-2364
e-mail: brad_bortner@fws.gov
Dave Case (contractor)
D.J. Case & Associates
607 Lincolnway West
Mishawaka, IN 46544
phone: 574-258-0100
fax: 574-258-0189
e-mail: dave@djcase.com
Jim Dubovsky (Region 6)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
P.O. Box 25486-DFC
Denver, CO 80225-0486
phone: 303-236-4403
fax: 303-236-8680
e-mail:james_dubovsky@fws.gov
Diane Pence (Region 5)
Jeff Haskins (Region 2)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
P.O. Box 1306
Albuquerque, NM 87103
phone: 505-248-6827 (ext 30)
fax: 505-248-7885
e-mail: jeff_haskins@fws.gov
Jim Kelley (Region 9)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1 Federal Drive
Fort Snelling, MN 55111-0458
phone: 612-713-5409
fax: 612-713-5393
e-mail: james_r_kelley@fws.gov
Sean Kelly (Region 3)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1 Federal Drive
Ft. Snelling, MN 55111-4056
phone: 612-713-5470
fax: 612-713-5393
e-mail: sean_kelly@fws.gov
Paul Padding (Region 9)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
11510 American Holly Drive
Laurel, MD 20708
phone: 301-497-5851
fax: 301-497-5885
e-mail: paul_padding@fws.gov
Bob Trost (Region 9)
34
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
300 Westgate Center Drive
Hadley, MA 01035-9589
phone: 413-253-8577
fax: 413-253-8424
e-mail: diane_pence@fws.gov
Russ Oates (Region 7)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1011 East Tudor Road
Anchorage, AK 99503-6119
phone: 907-786-3446
fax: 907-786-3641
e-mail: russ_oates@fws.gov
Dave Sharp (Region 9)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
P.O. Box 25486, DFC
Denver, CO 80225-0486
phone: 303-275-2386
fax: 303-275-2384
e-mail: dave_sharp@fws.gov
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
911 NE 11th Ave.
Portland, OR 97232-4181
phone: 503-231-6162
fax: 503-231-6228
e-mail: robert_trost@fws.gov
David Viker (Region 4)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1875 Century Blvd., Suite 345
Atlanta, GA 30345
phone: 404-679-7188
fax: 404-679-7285
e-mail: david_viker@fws.gov
Canadian Wildlife Service Representatives:
Dale Caswell
Canadian Wildlife Service
123 Main St. Suite 150
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3C 4W2
phone: 204-983-5260
fax: 204-983-5248
e-mail: dale.caswell@ec.gc.ca
Eric Reed
Canadian Wildlife Service
351 St. Joseph Boulevard
Hull, QC K1A OH3, Canada
phone: 819-953-0294
fax: 819-953-6283
e-mail: eric.reed@ec.gc.ca
Flyway Council Representatives:
Min Huang (Atlantic Flyway)
CT Dept. of Environmental Protection
Franklin Wildlife Mgmt. Area
391 Route 32
North Franklin, CT 06254, USA
Phone: 860/642-6528
fax: 860/642-7964
e-mail: min.huang@po.state.ct.us
Mike Johnson (Central Flyway)
North Dakota Game and Fish Department
100 North Bismarck Expressway
Bismarck, ND 58501-5095
phone: 701-328-6319
fax: 701-328-6352
e-mail: mjohnson@state.nd.us
Bryan Swift (Atlantic Flyway)
Dept. Environmental Conservation
Larry Reynolds (Mississippi Flyway)
LA Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries
PO Box 98000
Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000, USA
Phone: 225/765-0456
Fax: 225/763-5456
e-mail: lreynolds@wlf.state.la.us
Jon Runge (Pacific Flyway)
Colorado Division of Wildlife
317 W. Prospect
Fort Collins, CO 80526
Phone: 970-472-4365
e-mail: Jon.Runge@state.co.us
Dan Yparraguirre (Pacific Flyway)
California Dept. of Fish and Game
35
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-4754
phone: 518-402-8866
fax: 518-402-9027 or 402-8925
e-mail: blswift@gw.dec.state.ny.us
Mark Vrtiska (Central Flyway)
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
P.O. Box 30370
2200 North 33rd Street
Lincoln, NE 68503-1417
phone: 402-471-5437
fax: 402-471-5528
email: mvrtiska@ngpc.state.ne.us
1812 Ninth Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
phone: 916-445-3685
e-mail: dyparraguirre@dfg.ca.gov
Guy Zenner (Mississippi Flyway)
Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources
1203 North Shore Drive
Clear Lake, IA 50428
phone: 515-357-3517, ext. 23
fax: 515-357-5523
e-mail: gzenner@netins.net
36
APPENDIX 2: Mid-continent Mallard Models
In 1995, we developed population models to predict changes in midcontinent mallards based on the traditional
survey area which includes individuals from Alaska (Johnson et al. 1997). In 1997, we added mallards from the
Great Lakes region (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) to the mid-continent mallard stock, assuming their
population dynamics were equivalent. In 2002, we made extensive revisions to the set of alternative models
describing the population dynamics of mid-continent mallards (Runge et al. 2002, USFWS 2002). This year we
have redefined the population of mid-continent mallards to account for the removal of Alaskan birds (WBPHS
strata 1–12) that are now considered to be in the western mallard stock and have subsequently rescaled the model
set appropriately.
Model Structure
Collectively, the models express uncertainty (or disagreement) about whether harvest is an additive or
compensatory form of mortality (Burnham et al. 1984), and whether the reproductive process is weakly or
strongly density-dependent (i.e., the degree to which reproductive rates decline with increasing population size).
All population models for mid-continent mallards share a common “balance equation” to predict changes in
breeding-population size as a function of annual survival and reproductive rates:
Nt Nt (mSt AM ( m)(St AF Rt (St JF St JM F )))
sum
M
sum
+ = + − + + 1 , 1 , , , φ φ
where:
N = breeding population size,
m = proportion of males in the breeding population,
SAM, SAF, SJF, and SJM = survival rates of adult males, adult females, young females, and young males, respectively,
R = reproductive rate, defined as the fall age ratio of females,
φ F φ
sum
M
sum
= the ratio of female (F) to male (M) summer survival, and
t = year.
We assumed that m and φ F φ
sum
M
sum are fixed and known. We also assumed, based in part on information provided by
Blohm et al. (1987), the ratio of female to male summer survival was equivalent to the ratio of annual survival
rates in the absence of harvest. Based on this assumption, we estimated φ F φ
sum
M
sum = 0.897. To estimate m we
expressed the balance equation in matrix form:
N
N
S RS
S RS
N
N
t AM
t AF
AM JM F
sum
M
sum
AF JF
t AM
t AF
+
+
⎡
⎣ ⎢
⎤
⎦ ⎥
=
+
⎡
⎣ ⎢
⎤
⎦ ⎥
⎡
⎣ ⎢
⎤
⎦ ⎥
1
1 0
,
,
,
,
φ φ
and substituted the constant ratio of summer survival and means of estimated survival and reproductive rates. The
right eigenvector of the transition matrix is the stable sex structure that the breeding population eventually would
attain with these constant demographic rates. This eigenvector yielded an estimate of m = 0.5246.
Using estimates of annual survival and reproductive rates, the balance equation for mid-continent mallards over-predicted
observed population sizes by 11.0% on average. The source of the bias is unknown, so we modified the
balance equation to eliminate the bias by adjusting both survival and reproductive rates:
37
Nt S Nt (mSt AM ( m)(St AF RRt (St JF St JM F )))
sum
M
sum
+ 1 = γ , + 1 − , + γ , + , φ φ
where γ denotes the bias-correction factors for survival (S) and reproduction (R). We used a least squares
approach to estimate γS = 0.9407 and γR = 0.8647.
Survival Process
We considered two alternative hypotheses for the relationship between annual survival and harvest rates. For
both models, we assumed that survival in the absence of harvest was the same for adults and young of the same
sex. In the model where harvest mortality is additive to natural mortality:
St sex age s sex ( K )
A
, , , t ,sex,age = − 0 1
and in the model where changes in natural mortality compensate for harvest losses (up to some threshold):
S
s if K s
t sex age K if K s
sex
C
t sex age sex
C
t sex age t sex age sex
, , C
, ,, ,
, , , , ,
=
≤ −
− > −
⎧⎨ ⎪
⎩⎪
0 0
0
1
1 1
where s0 = survival in the absence of harvest under the additive (A) or compensatory (C) model, and K = harvest
rate adjusted for crippling loss (20%, Anderson and Burnham 1976). We averaged estimates of s0 across banding
reference areas by weighting by breeding-population size. For the additive model, s0 = 0.7896 and 0.6886 for
males and females, respectively. For the compensatory model, s0 = 0.6467 and 0.5965 for males and females,
respectively. These estimates may seem counterintuitive because survival in the absence of harvest should be the
same for both models. However, estimating a common (but still sex-specific) s0 for both models leads to
alternative models that do not fit available band-recovery data equally well. More importantly, it suggests that the
greatest uncertainty about survival rates is when harvest rate is within the realm of experience. By allowing s0 to
differ between additive and compensatory models, we acknowledge that the greatest uncertainty about survival
rate is its value in the absence of harvest (i.e., where we have no experience).
Reproductive Process
Annual reproductive rates were estimated from age ratios in the harvest of females, corrected using a constant
estimate of differential vulnerability. Predictor variables were the number of ponds in May in Prairie Canada (P,
in millions) and the size of the breeding population (N, in millions). We estimated the best-fitting linear model,
and then calculated the 80% confidence ellipsoid for all model parameters. We chose the two points on this
ellipsoid with the largest and smallest values for the effect of breeding-population size, and generated a weakly
density-dependent model:
Rt = 0.7166 + 0.1083Pt − 0.0373Nt
and a strongly density-dependent model:
Rt = 1.1390 + 0.1376Pt − 0.1131Nt
Predicted recruitment was then rescaled to reflect the current definition of mid-continent mallards which now
excludes birds from Alaska but includes mallards observed in the Great Lakes region.
38
Pond Dynamics
We modeled annual variation in Canadian pond numbers as a first-order autoregressive process. The estimated
model was:
Pt + Pt t = + + 1 2.2127 0.3420 ε
where ponds are in millions and εt
is normally distributed with mean = 0 and variance = 1.2567.
Variance of Prediction Errors
Using the balance equation and sub-models described above, predictions of breeding-population size in year t+1
depend only on specification of population size, pond numbers, and harvest rate in year t. For the period in which
comparisons were possible, we compared these predictions with observed population sizes.
We estimated the prediction-error variance by setting:
( ) ( )
( )
[ ( ) ( )] ( )
e N N
e N
N N n
t t
obs
t
pre
t
t
obs
t
pre
t
= −
= Σ − −
ln ln
~ ,
$ ln ln
then assuming
and estimating
0
1
σ 2
σ 2 2
where obs and pre are observed and predicted population sizes (in millions), respectively, and n = the number of
years being compared. We were concerned about a variance estimate that was too small, either by chance or
because the number of years in which comparisons were possible was small. Therefore, we calculated the upper
80% confidence limit for σ2 based on a Chi-squared distribution for each combination of the alternative survival
and reproductive sub-models, and then averaged them. The final estimate of σ2 was 0.0280, equivalent to a
coefficient of variation of about 18%.
Model Implications
The population model with additive hunting mortality and weakly density-dependent recruitment (SaRw) leads to
the most conservative harvest strategy, whereas the model with compensatory hunting mortality and strongly
density-dependent recruitment (ScRs) leads to the most liberal strategy. The other two models (SaRs and ScRw)
lead to strategies that are intermediate between these extremes. Under the models with compensatory hunting
mortality (ScRs and ScRw), the optimal strategy is to have a liberal regulation regardless of population size or
number of ponds because at harvest rates achieved under the liberal alternative, harvest has no effect on
population size. Under the strongly density-dependent model (ScRs), the density-dependence regulates the
population and keeps it within narrow bounds. Under the weakly density-dependent model (ScRw), the density-dependence
does not exert as strong a regulatory effect, and the population size fluctuates more.
Model Weights
Model weights are calculated as Bayesian probabilities, reflecting the relative ability of the individual alternative
models to predict observed changes in population size. The Bayesian probability for each model is a function of
the model’s previous (or prior) weight and the likelihood of the observed population size under that model. We
used Bayes’ theorem to calculate model weights from a comparison of predicted and observed population sizes
for the years 1996–2008, starting with equal model weights in 1995.
39
APPENDIX 3: Eastern Mallard Models
Model Structure
We also revised the population models for eastern mallards in 2002 (Johnson et al. 2002a, USFWS 2002). The
current set of six models: (1) relies solely on federal and state waterfowl surveys (rather than the Breeding Bird
Survey) to estimate abundance; (2) allows for the possibility of a positive bias in estimates of survival or
reproductive rates; (3) incorporates competing hypotheses of strongly and weakly density-dependent
reproduction; and (4) assumes that hunting mortality is additive to other sources of mortality.
As with mid-continent mallards, all population models for eastern mallards share a common balance equation to
predict changes in breeding-population size as a function of annual survival and reproductive rates:
Nt Nt ((p St ) (( p) S ) (p (A d) S ) (p (A d) S ))
am
t
af
t
m
t
ym
t
m
t
yf
+ = ⋅ ⋅ + − ⋅ + ⋅ ⋅ + ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 1 1 ψ
where:
N = breeding-population size,
p = proportion of males in the breeding population,
Sam, Saf, Sym, and Syf = survival rates of adult males, adult females, young males, and young females, respectively,
Am = ratio of young males to adult males in the harvest,
d = ratio of young male to adult male direct recovery rates,
ψ = the ratio of male to female summer survival, and t = year.
In this balance equation, we assume that p, d, and ψ are fixed and known. The parameter ψ is necessary to
account for the difference in anniversary date between the breeding-population survey (May) and the survival and
reproductive rate estimates (August). This model also assumes that the sex ratio of fledged young is 1:1; hence
Am/d appears twice in the balance equation. We estimated d = 1.043 as the median ratio of young:adult male
band-recovery rates in those states from which wing receipts were obtained. We estimated ψ = 1.216 by
regressing through the origin estimates of male survival against female survival in the absence of harvest,
assuming that differences in natural mortality between males and females occur principally in summer. To
estimate p, we used a population projection matrix of the form:
( )
( ) ⎥⎦
⎤
⎢⎣
⎡
⋅ ⎥⎦
⎤
⎢⎣
⎡
⋅ ⋅
+ ⋅
= ⎥⎦
⎤
⎢⎣
⎡
+
+
t
t
m yf af
am m ym
t
t
F
M
A d S S
S A d S
F
M
ψ
0
1
1
where M and F are the relative number of males and females in the breeding populations, respectively. To
parameterize the projection matrix we used average annual survival rate and age ratio estimates, and the estimates
of d and ψ provided above. The right eigenvector of the projection matrix is the stable proportion of males and
females the breeding population eventually would attain in the face of constant demographic rates. This
eigenvector yielded an estimate of p = 0.544.
We also attempted to determine whether estimates of survival and reproductive rates were unbiased. We relied on
the balance equation provided above, except that we included additional parameters to correct for any bias that
might exist. Because we were unsure of the source(s) of potential bias, we alternatively assumed that any bias
resided solely in survival rates:
Nt Nt ((p St ) (( p) S ) (p (A d) S ) (p (A d) S ))
am
t
af
t
m
t
ym
t
m
t
yf
+ = ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ + − ⋅ + ⋅ ⋅ + ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 1 Ω 1 ψ
40
(where Ω is the bias-correction factor for survival rates), or solely in reproductive rates:
Nt Nt ((p St ) (( p) S ) (p (A d) S ) (p (A d) S ))
am
t
af
t
m
t
ym
t
m
t
yf
+ = ⋅ ⋅ + − ⋅ + ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ + ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 1 1 α α ψ
(where α is the bias-correction factor for reproductive rates). We estimated Ω and α by determining the values of
these parameters that minimized the sum of squared differences between observed and predicted population sizes.
Based on this analysis, Ω = 0.836 and α = 0.701, suggesting a positive bias in survival or reproductive rates.
However, because of the limited number of years available for comparing observed and predicted population
sizes, we also retained the balance equation that assumes estimates of survival and reproductive rates are
unbiased.
Survival Process
For purposes of AHM, annual survival rates must be predicted based on the specification of regulation-specific
harvest rates (and perhaps on other uncontrolled factors). Annual survival for each age (i) and sex (j) class under
a given regulatory alternative is:
( )
( ) S
h v
c t
i j j t
am i j
,
,
= ⋅ −
⋅
−
⎛
⎝
⎜⎜
⎞
⎠
⎟⎟
θ 1
1
where:
S = annual survival,
θ j = mean survival from natural causes,
ham = harvest rate of adult males, and
v = harvest vulnerability relative to adult males,
c = rate of crippling (unretrieved harvest).
This model assumes that annual variation in survival is due solely to variation in harvest rates, that relative
harvest vulnerability of the different age-sex classes is fixed and known, and that survival from natural causes is
fixed at its sample mean. We estimated θ j = 0.7307 and 0.5950 for males and females, respectively.
Reproductive process
As with survival, annual reproductive rates must be predicted in advance of setting regulations. We relied on the
apparent relationship between breeding-population size and reproductive rates:
Rt = a ⋅ exp(b ⋅ Nt )
where Rt is the reproductive rate (i.e., Am d
t ), Nt is breeding-population size in millions, and a and b are model
parameters. The least-squares parameter estimates were a = 2.508 and b = -0.875. Because of both the
importance and uncertainty of the relationship between population size and reproduction, we specified two
alternative models in which the slope (b) was fixed at the least-squares estimate ± one standard error, and in
which the intercepts (a) were subsequently re-estimated. This provided alternative hypotheses of strongly
density-dependent (a = 4.154, b = -1.377) and weakly density-dependent reproduction (a = 1.518, b = -0.373).
41
Variance of Prediction Errors
Using the balance equations and sub-models provided above, predictions of breeding-population size in year t+1
depend only on the specification of a regulatory alternative and on an estimate of population size in year t. For
the period in which comparisons were possible (1991–96), we were interested in how well these predictions
corresponded with observed population sizes. In making these comparisons, we were primarily concerned with
how well the bias-corrected balance equations and reproductive and survival sub-models performed. Therefore,
we relied on estimates of harvest rates rather than regulations as model inputs.
We estimated the prediction-error variance by setting:
( ) ( )
( )
[ ( ) ( )]
e N N
e N
N N n
t t
obs
t
pre
t
t
obs
t
pre
t
= −
= Σ −
ln ln
~ ,
$ ln ln
then assuming
and estimating
0 σ 2
σ 2 2
where obs and pre are observed and predicted population sizes (in millions), respectively, and n = 6.
Variance estimates were similar regardless of whether we assumed that the bias was in reproductive rates or in
survival, or whether we assumed that reproduction was strongly or weakly density-dependent. Thus, we averaged
variance estimates to provide a final estimate of σ2 = 0.006, which is equivalent to a coefficient of variation (CV)
of 8.0%. We were concerned, however, about the small number of years available for estimating this variance.
Therefore, we estimated an 80% confidence interval for σ2 based on a Chi-squared distribution and used the upper
limit for σ2 = 0.018 (i.e., CV = 14.5%) to express the additional uncertainty about the magnitude of prediction
errors attributable to potentially important environmental effects not expressed by the models.
Model Implications
Model-specific regulatory strategies based on the hypothesis of weakly density-dependent reproduction are
considerably more conservative than those based on the hypothesis of strongly density-dependent reproduction.
The three models with weakly density-dependent reproduction suggest a carrying capacity (i.e., average
population size in the absence of harvest) >2.0 million mallards, and prescribe extremely restrictive regulations
for population size <1.0 million. The three models with strongly density-dependent reproduction suggest a
carrying capacity of about 1.5 million mallards, and prescribe liberal regulations for population sizes >300
thousand. Optimal regulatory strategies are relatively insensitive to whether models include a bias correction or
not. All model-specific regulatory strategies are “knife-edged,” meaning that large differences in the optimal
regulatory choice can be precipitated by only small changes in breeding-population size. This result is at least
partially due to the small differences in predicted harvest rates among the current regulatory alternatives (see the
section on Regulatory Alternatives later in this report).
Model Weights
We used Bayes’ theorem to calculate model weights from a comparison of predicted and observed population
sizes for the years 1996–2008. We calculated weights for the alternative models based on an assumption of equal
model weights in 1996 (the last year data was used to develop most model components) and on estimates of year-specific
harvest rates (Appendix 5).
42
APPENDIX 4: Western Mallard Models
In contrast to mid-continent and eastern mallards, we did not model changes in population size of western
mallards as an explicit function of survival and reproductive rate estimates (which in turn may be functions of
harvest and environmental covariates). We believed this so-called “balance-equation approach” was not viable
for western mallards because of insufficient banding in Alaska to estimate survival rates, and because of the
difficulty in estimating stock-specific fall age ratios from a sample of wings derived from a mix of breeding
stocks. We therefore relied on a discrete logistic model (Schaefer 1954), which combines reproduction and
natural mortality into a single parameter r, the intrinsic rate of growth. The model assumes density-dependent
growth, which is regulated by the ratio of population size, N, to the carrying capacity of the environment, K (i.e.,
equilibrium population size in the absence of harvest). In the traditional formulation, harvest mortality is additive
to other sources of mortality, but compensation for hunting losses can occur through subsequent increases in
production. However, we parameterized the model in a way that also allows for compensation of harvest
mortality between the hunting and breeding seasons. It is important to note that compensation modeled in this
way is purely phenomenological, in the sense that there is no explicit ecological mechanism for compensation
(e.g., density-dependent mortality after the hunting season).
The basic model for both the Alaska and California/Oregon stocks had the form:
and where t = year, hAM = the harvest rate of adult males, and d = a scaling factor. The scaling factor is used to
account for a combination of unobservable effects, including un-retrieved harvest (i.e., crippling loss), differential
harvest mortality of cohorts other than adult males, and for the possibility that some harvest mortality may not
affect subsequent breeding-population size (i.e., the compensatory mortality hypothesis).
Estimation Framework
We used Bayesian estimation methods in combination with a state-space model that accounts explicitly for both
process and observation error in breeding population size. This combination of methods is becoming widely used
in natural resource modeling, in part because it facilitates the fitting of non-linear models that may have non-normal
errors (Meyer and Millar 1999). The Bayesian approach also provides a natural and intuitive way to
portray uncertainty, allows one to incorporate prior information about model parameters, and permits the updating
of parameter estimates as further information becomes available.
We first scaled N by K as recommended by Meyer and Millar (1999), and assumed that process errors et were log-normally
distributed with mean 0 and variance σ2. Thus, the process model had the form:
The observation model related the unknown population sizes (PtK) to the population sizes (Nt) estimated from the
breeding-population surveys in Alaska and California-Oregon. We assumed that the observation process yielded
additive, normally distributed errors, which were represented by:
( )
AM
t t
t
t
t t t
where d h
K
N N N r N
= ⋅
− ⎥⎦
⎤
⎢⎣
⎡
⎟⎠
⎞
⎜⎝
= + ⎛ − +
α
1 1 α 1
( ) {[ ( )]( )}
( 2 )
1 1 1 1
~ 0,
log log 1 1
where e N σ
P P P r P d h e
P N K
t
t
AM
t t t t t
t t t
= + − − ⋅ +
=
− − − −
43
BPOP
t t t N = PK +ε ,
~ (0, 2 )
BPOP
BPOP
t where ε N σ .
Use of the observation model allowed us to account for the sampling error in population estimates, while
permitting us to estimate the process error, which reflects the inability of the model to completely describe
changes in population size. The process error reflects the combined effect of misspecification of an appropriate
model form, as well as any un-modeled environmental drivers. We initially examined a number of possible
environmental covariates, including the Palmer Drought Index in California and Oregon, spring temperature in
Alaska, and the El Niño Southern Oscillation Index
(http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/people/klaus.wolter/MEI/mei.html). While the estimated effects of these covariates on
r or K were generally what one would expect, they were never of sufficient magnitude to have a meaningful effect
on optimal harvest strategies. We therefore chose not to further pursue an investigation of environmental
covariates, and posited that the process error was a sufficient surrogate for these un-modeled effects.
Parameterization of the models also required measures of harvest rate. Beginning in 2002, harvest rates of adult
males were estimated directly from the recovery of reward bands. Prior to 1993, we used direct recoveries of
standard bands, corrected for band-reporting rates provided by Nichols et al. (1995b). We also used the band-reporting
rates provided by Nichols et al. (1995b) for estimating harvest rates in 1994 and 1995, except that we
inflated the reporting rates of full-address and toll-free bands based on an unpublished analysis by Clint Moore
and Jim Nichols (Patuxent Wildlife Research Center). We were unwilling to estimate harvest rates for the years
1996–2001 because of suspected, but unknown, increases in the reporting rates of all bands. For simplicity,
harvest rate estimates were treated as known values in our analysis, although future analyses might benefit from
an appropriate observation model for these data.
In a Bayesian analysis, one is interested in making probabilistic statements about the model parameters (θ),
conditioned on the observed data. Thus, we are interested in evaluating P(θ|data), which requires the specification
of prior distributions for all model parameters and unobserved system states (θ) and the sampling distribution
(likelihood) of the observed data P(data| θ). Using Bayes theorem, we can represent the posterior probability
distribution of model parameters, conditioned on the data, as:
P(θ | data) ∝ P(θ )× P(data |θ ) .
Accordingly, we specified prior distributions for model parameters r, K, d, and P0, which is the initial population
size relative to carrying capacity. For both stocks, we specified the following prior distributions for r, d, and σ2:
( )
( )
~ (0.001, 0.001)
~ 0, 2
~ 1.0397, 1.4427
2 Inverse gamma
d Uniform
r Log normal
−
− −
σ
The prior distribution for r is centered at 0.35, which we believe to be a reasonable value for mallards based on
life-history characteristics and estimates for other avian species. Yet the distribution also admits considerable
uncertainty as to the value of r within what we believe to be realistic biological bounds. As for the harvest-rate
scalar, we would expect d ≥ 1 under the additive hypothesis and d < 1 under the compensatory hypothesis. As we
had no data to specify an informative prior distribution, we specified a vague prior in which d could take on a
wide range of values with equal probability. We used a traditional, uninformative prior distribution for σ2. Prior
distributions for K and P0 were stock-specific and are described in the following sections.
44
We used the public-domain software WinBUGS (http://www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/bugs/) to derive samples from
the joint posterior distribution of model parameters via Markov-Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations. We
obtained 510,000 samples from the joint posterior distribution, discarded the first 10,000, and then thinned the
remainder by 50, resulting in a final sample of 10,000.
Alaska mallards
Data selection.--Breeding population estimates of mallards in Alaska (and the Old Crow Flats in Yukon) are
available since 1955 in WBPHS strata 1–12 (Smith 1995). However, a change in survey aircraft in 1977
instantaneously increased the detectability of waterfowl, and thus population estimates (Hodges et al. 1996).
Moreover, there was a rapid increase in average annual temperature in Alaska at the same time, apparently tied to
changes in the frequency and intensity of El Niño events
(http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/people/klaus.wolter/MEI/mei.html). This confounding of changes in climate and
survey methods led us to truncate the years 1955–1977 from the time series of population estimates.
Modeling of the Alaska stock also depended on the availability of harvest-rate estimates derived from band-recovery
data. Unfortunately, sufficient numbers of mallards were not banded in Alaska prior to 1990. A search
for covariates that would have allowed us to make harvest-rate predictions for years in which band-recovery data
were not available was not fruitful, and we were thus forced to further restrict the time-series to 1990–2005. Even
so, harvest rate estimates were not available for the years 1996–2001 because of unknown changes in band-reporting
rates. Because available estimates of harvest rate showed no apparent variation over time, we simply
used the mean and standard deviation of the available estimates and generated independent samples of predictions
for the missing years based on a logit transformation and an assumption of normality:
~ ( 2.3265, 0.0830) 1996 2001
1
ln − = − ⎟ ⎟⎠
⎞
⎜ ⎜⎝
⎛
−
Normal for t
h
h
t
t
Prior distributions for K and P0.—We believed that sufficient information was available to use mildly informative
priors for K and P0. In recent years the Alaska stock has contained approximately 0.8 million mallards. If harvest
rates have been comparable to that necessary to achieve maximum sustained yield (MSY) under the logistic
model (i.e., r/2), then we would expect K ≈ 1.6 million. On the other hand, if harvest rates have been less than
those associated with MSY, then we would expect K < 1.6 million. Because we believed it was not likely that
harvest rates were >r/2, we believed the likely range of K to be 0.8–1.6 million. We therefore specified a prior
distribution that had a mean of 1.4 million, but had a sufficiently large variance to admit a wide range of possible
values:
K ~ Log − normal(0.13035, 0.41224)
Extending this line of reasoning, we specified a prior distribution that assumed the estimated population size of
approximately 0.4 million at the start of the time-series (i.e., 1990) was 20–60% of K. Thus on a log scale:
P ~ Uniform(−1.6094, − 0.5108) o
Parameter estimates.—The logistic model and associated posterior parameter estimates provided a reasonable fit
to the observed time-series of population estimates. The posterior means of K and r were similar to their priors,
although their variances were considerably smaller (albeit still large) (Table a). However, the posterior
distribution of d was essentially the same as its prior, reflecting the absence of information in the data necessary to
reliably estimate this parameter.
Estimates of model parameters resulting from fitting a discrete logistic model with MCMC to a time-series of
45
estimated population sizes and harvest rates of mallards breeding in Alaska, 1990–2007.
Parameter Mean SD 95% credibility interval
K 1.192 0.306 0.708–1.860
P0 0.319 0.088 0.205–0.535
d 1.004 0.544 0.070–1.933
r 0.315 0.129 0.099–0.597
σ2 0.021 0.013 0.005–0.055
California-Oregon mallards
Data selection.—Breeding-population estimates of mallards in California are available starting in 1992, but not
until 1994 in Oregon. Also, Oregon did not conduct a survey in 2001. In order to avoid truncating the time-series,
we used the admittedly weak relationship (P = 0.18) between California and Oregon population estimates
to predict population sizes in Oregon in 1992, 1993, and 2001. The fitted linear model was:
( CA )
t
OR
t N = 80033 + 0.0734 N
To derive realistic standard errors, we assumed that the predictions had the same mean coefficient of variation as
the years when surveys were conducted (n = 13, CV = 0.082). The estimated sizes and variances of the
California-Oregon stock were calculated by simply summing the state-specific estimates.
We pooled banding and recovery data for California and Oregon and estimated harvest rates in the same manner
as that for Alaska mallards. Although banded sample sizes were sufficient in all years, harvest rates could not be
estimated for the years 1996–2001 because of unknown changes in band-reporting rates. As with Alaska,
available estimates of harvest rate showed no apparent trend over time, and we simply used the mean and standard
deviation of the available estimates and generated independent samples of predictions for the missing years based
on a logit transformation and an assumption of normality:
~ ( 1.9844, 0.0351) 1996 2001
1
ln − = − ⎟ ⎟⎠
⎞
⎜ ⎜⎝
⎛
−
Normal for t
h
h
t
t
Prior distributions for K and P0.— Unlike the Alaska stock, the California-Oregon population has been relatively
stable with a mean of 0.48 million mallards. We believed K should be in the range 0.48 – 0.96 million, assuming
the logistic model and that harvest rates were ≤ r/2. We therefore specified a prior distribution on K that had a
mean of 0.7 million, but with a variance sufficiently large to admit a wide range of possible values:
K ~ Log − normal(− 0.5628, 0.41224)
The estimated size of the California-Oregon stock was 0.48 million at the start of the time-series (i.e., 1992). We
used a similar line of reasoning as that for Alaska for specifying a prior distribution P0, positing that initial
population size was 40–100% of K. Thus on a log scale:
P ~ Uniform(− 0.9163, 0.0) o
Parameter estimates.—The logistic model and associated posterior parameter estimates provided a reasonable fit
to the observed time-series of population estimates. The posterior means of K and r were similar to their priors,
although the variances were considerably smaller (albeit still large) (Table b). Interestingly, the posterior mean of
46
d was <1, suggestive of a compensatory response to harvest; however the standard deviation of the estimate was
large, with the upper 95% credibility limit >1.
Estimates of model parameters resulting from fitting a discrete logistic model with MCMC to a time-series of
estimated population sizes and harvest rates of mallards breeding in California and Oregon, 1992–2007.
Parameter Mean SD 95% credibility interval
K 0.662 0.169 0.452–1.081
P0 0.732 0.158 0.431–0.983
d 0.616 0.431 0.034–1.649
r 0.357 0.224 0.074–0.919
σ2 0.014 0.012 0.002–0.045
APPENDIX 5: Modeling Mallard Harvest Rates
47
We modeled harvest rates of mid-continent mallards within a Bayesian hierarchical framework. We developed a
set of models to predict harvest rates under each regulatory alternative as a function of the harvest rates observed
under the liberal alternative, using historical information. We modeled the probability of regulation-specific
harvest rates (h) based on normal distributions with the following parameterizations:
Closed:
Restrictive:
Moderate:
Liberal:
p h N
p h N
p h N
p h N
C C C
R R L R
M M L f M
L L f L
( )~ ( , )
( )~ ( , )
( )~ ( , )
( )~ ( , )
μ ν
γ μ ν
γ μ δ ν
μ δ ν
2
2
2
2
+
+
For the restrictive and moderate alternatives we introduced the parameter γ to represent the relative difference
between the harvest rate observed under the liberal alternative and the moderate or restrictive alternatives. Based
on this parameterization, we are making use of the information that has been gained (under the liberal alternative)
and are modeling harvest rates for the restrictive and moderate alternatives as a function of the mean harvest rate
observed under the liberal alternative. For the harvest-rate distributions assumed under the restrictive and
moderate regulatory packages, we specified that γR and γM are equal to the prior estimates of the predicted mean
harvest rates under the restrictive and moderate alternatives divided by the prior estimates of the predicted mean
harvest rates observed under the liberal alternative. Thus, these parameters act to scale the mean of the restrictive
and moderate distributions in relation to the mean harvest rate observed under the liberal regulatory alternative.
We also considered the marginal effect of framework-date extensions under the moderate and liberal alternatives
by including the parameter δf.
In order to update the probability distributions of harvest rates realized under each regulatory alternative, we first
needed to specify a prior probability distribution for each of the model parameters. These distributions represent
prior beliefs regarding the relationship between each regulatory alternative and the expected harvest rates. We
used a normal distribution to represent the mean and a scaled inverse-chi-square distribution to represent the
variance of the normal distribution of the likelihood. For the mean (μ) of each harvest-rate distribution associated
with each regulatory alternative, we use the predicted mean harvest rates provided in USFWS (2000:13–14),
assuming uniformity of regulatory prescriptions across flyways. We set prior values of each standard deviation
(ν) equal to 20% of the mean (CV = 0.2) based on an analysis by Johnson et al. (1997). We then specified the
following prior distributions and parameter values under each regulatory package:
Closed (in U.S. only):
p N
p ScaledInv
C
C
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
μ
ν χ
0 0088 0 0018
6
6 0 0018
2
2 2 2
−
These closed-season parameter values are based on observed harvest rates in Canada during the 1988–93 seasons,
which was a period of restrictive regulations in both Canada and the United States.
For the restrictive and moderate alternatives, we specified that the standard error of the normal distribution of the
scaling parameter is based on a coefficient of variation for the mean equal to 0.3. The scale parameter of the
inverse-chi-square distribution was set equal to the standard deviation of the harvest rate mean under the
restrictive and moderate regulation alternatives (i.e., CV = 0.2).
Restrictive:
48
p N
p Scaled Inv
R
R
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
γ
ν χ
051 015
6
6 0 0133
2
2 2 2
−
Moderate:
p N
p ScaledInv
M
M
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
γ
ν χ
085 026
6
6 0 0223
2
2 2 2
−
Liberal:
p N
p ScaledInv
L
L
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
μ
ν χ
01305
0 0261
6
6 0 0261
2
2 2 2
−
The prior distribution for the marginal effect of the framework-date extension was specified as:
p( ) N( ) f δ
~ 0.02,0.012
The prior distributions were multiplied by the likelihood functions based on the last seven years of data under
liberal regulations, and the resulting posterior distributions were evaluated with Markov Chain Monte Carlo
simulation. Posterior estimates of model parameters and of annual harvest rates are provided in the following
table:
Parameter Estimate SD Parameter Estimate SD
μC 0.0088 0.0021 h1998 0.1019 0.0070
νC 0.0019 0.0005 h1999 0.0981 0.0072
γR 0.5110 0.0606 h2000 0.1249 0.0085
νR 0.0129 0.0032 h2001 0.0918 0.0088
γM 0.8452 0.1058 h2002 0.1051 0.0043
νM 0.0216 0.0055 h2003 0.1050 0.0052
μL 0.1093 0.0069 h2004 0.1150 0.0077
νL 0.0207 0.0039 h2005 0.1105 0.0071
δf 0.0060 0.0077 h2006 0.1023 0.0066
h2007 0.0930 0.0055
49
We modeled harvest rates of eastern mallards using the same parameterizations as those for mid-continent
mallards:
Closed:
Restrictive:
Moderate:
Liberal:
p h N
p h N
p h N
p h N
C C C
R R L R
M M L f M
L L f L
( )~ ( , )
( )~ ( , )
( )~ ( , )
( )~ ( , )
μ ν
γ μ ν
γ μ δ ν
μ δ ν
2
2
2
2
+
+
We set prior values of each standard deviation (ν) equal to 30% of the mean (CV = 0.3) to account for additional
variation due to changes in regulations in the other Flyways and their unpredictable effects on the harvest rates of
eastern mallards. We then specified the following prior distribution and parameter values for the liberal
regulatory alternative:
Liberal:
p N
p ScaledInv
L
L
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
μ
ν χ
01771
0 0531
6
6 0 0531
2
2 2 2
�����
Moderate:
p N
p ScaledInv
M
M
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
γ
ν χ
092
028
6
6 0 0488
2
2 2 2
−
Restrictive:
p N
p ScaledInv
R
R
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
γ
ν χ
076
028
6
6 0 0406
2
2 2 2
−
Closed (in U.S. only):
p N
p ScaledInv
C
C
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
μ
ν χ
0 0800
0 0240
6
6 0 0240
2
2 2 2
−
A previous analysis suggested that the effect of the framework-date extension on eastern mallards would be of
lower magnitude and more variable than on mid-continent mallards (USFWS 2000). Therefore, we specified the
following prior distribution for the marginal effect of the framework-date extension for eastern mallards as:
p( ) N( ) f δ
~ 0.01,0.012
50
The prior distributions were multiplied by the likelihood functions based on the last four years of data under
liberal regulations, and the resulting posterior distributions were evaluated with Markov Chain Monte Carlo
simulation. Posterior estimates of model parameters and of annual harvest rates are provided in the following
table:
Parameter Estimate SD Parameter Estimate SD
μC 0.0789 0.0257 h2002 0.1621 0.0127
νC 0.0233 0.0058 h2003 0.1460 0.0105
γR 0.7601 0.1129 h2004 0.1361 0.0114
νR 0.0394 0.0100 h2005 0.1310 0.0119
γM 0.9210 0.1161 h2006 0.1036 0.0132
νM 0.0471 0.0119 h2007 0.1192 0.0134
μL 0.1489 0.0157
νL 0.0446 0.0091
δf 0.0039 0.0095
51
APPENDIX 6: Scaup Model
We use a state-space formulation of scaup population and harvest dynamics within a Bayesian estimation
framework (Meyer and Millar 1999, Millar and Meyer 2000). This analytical framework allows us to represent
uncertainty associated with the monitoring programs (observation error) and the ability of our model formulation

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Adaptive Harvest
Management
2008 Hunting Season
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
1
Adaptive
Harvest
Management
2008 Hunting Season
PREFACE
The process of setting waterfowl hunting regulations is conducted annually in the United States (Blohm 1989).
This process involves a number of meetings where the status of waterfowl is reviewed by the agencies responsible
for setting hunting regulations. In addition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) publishes proposed
regulations in the Federal Register to allow public comment. This document is part of a series of reports intended
to support development of harvest regulations for the 2008 hunting season. Specifically, this report is intended to
provide waterfowl managers and the public with information about the use of adaptive harvest management
(AHM) for setting waterfowl hunting regulations in the United States. This report provides the most current data,
analyses, and decision-making protocols. However, adaptive management is a dynamic process and some
information presented in this report will differ from that in previous reports.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A working group comprised of representatives from the USFWS, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the
Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), and the four Flyway Councils (Appendix 1) was established in 1992 to review
the scientific basis for managing waterfowl harvests. The working group, supported by technical experts from the
waterfowl management and research communities, subsequently proposed a framework for adaptive harvest
management, which was first implemented in 1995. The USFWS expresses its gratitude to the AHM Working
Group and to the many other individuals, organizations, and agencies that have contributed to the development
and implementation of AHM.
This report was prepared by the USFWS Division of Migratory Bird Management. G. S. Boomer and T. A.
Sanders were the principal authors. Individuals that provided essential information or otherwise assisted with
report preparation were F. Johnson (USGS), M. Runge (USGS), M. Koneff (USFWS), K. Richkus (USFWS), T.
Liddick (USFWS), E. Silverman (USFWS), N. Zimpfer (USFWS), J. Klimstra (USFWS), A. Royle (USGS), and
P. Garrettson (USFWS). Comments regarding this document should be sent to the Chief, Division of Migratory
Bird Management - USFWS, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, MS MSP-4107, Arlington, VA 22203.
Citation: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2008. Adaptive Harvest Management: 2008 Hunting Season. U.S. Dept. Interior,
Washington, D.C. 54pp. Available online at http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/mgmt/AHM/AHM-intro.htm
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary .............................................................................................................3
Background ..........................................................................................................................4
Mallard Stocks and Flyway Management............................................................................5
Mallard Population Dynamics..............................................................................................6
Harvest-Management Objectives .......................................................................................13
Regulatory Alternatives .....................................................................................................14
Optimal Regulatory Strategies ...........................................................................................18
Application of AHM Concepts to Other Stocks ................................................................20
Literature Cited ..................................................................................................................30
Appendix 1: AHM Working Group..................................................................................33
Appendix 2: Mid-continent Mallard Models ....................................................................36
Appendix 3: Eastern Mallard Models ...............................................................................39
Appendix 4: Western Mallard Models..............................................................................42
Appendix 5: Modeling Mallard Harvest Rates .................................................................47
Appendix 6: Scaup Model.................................................................................................51
3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 1995 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) implemented the Adaptive Harvest Management (AHM)
program for setting duck hunting regulations in the United States. The AHM approach provides a framework for
making objective decisions in the face of incomplete knowledge concerning waterfowl population dynamics and
regulatory impacts.
This year the AHM protocol is based on the population dynamics and status of three mallard (Anas
platyrhynchos) stocks. Mid-continent mallards are defined as those breeding in the Waterfowl Breeding
Population and Habitat Survey (WBPHS) strata 13–18, 20–50, and 75–77 plus mallards breeding in the states of
Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin (state surveys). The prescribed regulatory alternative for the Mississippi
and Central Flyways depends exclusively on the status of these mallards. Eastern mallards are defined as those
breeding in WBPHS strata 51–54, and 56 and breeding in the states of Virginia northward into New Hampshire
(Atlantic Flyway Breeding Waterfowl Survey [AFBWS]). The regulatory choice for the Atlantic Flyway depends
exclusively on the status of these mallards. Western mallards are defined as those birds breeding in WBPHS
strata 1–12 (hereafter Alaska) and those birds breeding in the states of California and Oregon (state surveys). The
regulatory choice for the Pacific Flyway depends exclusively on the status of these mallards.
Mallard population models are based on the best available information and account for uncertainty in population
dynamics and the impact of harvest. Model-specific weights reflect the relative confidence in alternative
hypotheses and are updated annually using comparisons of predicted and observed population sizes. For mid-continent
mallards, current model weights favor the weakly density-dependent reproductive hypothesis (85%) and
suggest some preference for the additive-mortality hypothesis (62%). For eastern mallards, virtually all of the
weight is on models that have corrections for bias in estimates of survival or reproductive rates. Model weights
do not discriminate between the strongly density-dependent (46%) and weakly density-dependent (54%)
reproductive hypotheses. By consensus, hunting mortality is assumed to be additive in eastern mallards. Unlike
mid-continent and eastern mallards, we consider a single functional form to predict western mallard population
dynamics but consider a wide range of parameter values each weighted relative to the support from the data.
For the 2008 hunting season, the USFWS is considering the same regulatory alternatives as last year. The nature
of the restrictive, moderate, and liberal alternatives has remained essentially unchanged since 1997, except that
extended framework dates have been offered in the moderate and liberal alternatives since 2002. Harvest rates
associated with each of the regulatory alternatives have been updated based on band-reporting rate studies
conducted since 1998. Estimated harvest rates of adult males from the 2002–2007 liberal hunting seasons have
averaged 0.105 (SE = 0.003), 0.133 (SE = 0.008), 0.109 (SE = 0.004). for mid-continent, eastern and western
mallards, respectively. The estimated marginal effect of framework-date extensions has been an increase in
harvest rate of 0.006 (SD = 0.008) and 0.004 (SD = 0.010) for mid-continent and eastern mallards, respectively.
Optimal regulatory strategies for the 2008 hunting season were calculated using: (1) harvest-management
objectives specific to each mallard stock; (2) the 2008 regulatory alternatives; and (3) current population models.
Based on this year’s survey results of 7.87 million mid-continent mallards, 3.05 million ponds in Prairie Canada,
815 thousand eastern mallards, and 914 thousand western mallards in Alaska (532 thousand) and California-
Oregon (381 thousand), the optimal choice for all four flyways is the liberal regulatory alternative.
AHM concepts and tools are also being applied to help improve harvest management for several other waterfowl
stocks. In the last year, progress has been made in understanding the harvest potential of American black ducks
(Anas rubripes), the Atlantic Population of Canada geese (Branta canadensis), northern pintails (Anas acuta), and
scaup (Aythya affinis, A. marila). While these biological assessments are on-going, they are already informing
decision makers and proving valuable in helping focus debate on the social aspects of harvesting policy, including
management objectives and the nature of regulatory alternatives.
4
BACKGROUND
The annual process of setting duck-hunting regulations in the United States is based on a system of resource
monitoring, data analyses, and rule-making (Blohm 1989). Each year, monitoring activities such as aerial surveys
and hunter questionnaires provide information on population size, habitat conditions, and harvest levels. Data
collected from this monitoring program are analyzed each year, and proposals for duck-hunting regulations are
developed by the Flyway Councils, States, and USFWS. After extensive public review, the USFWS announces
regulatory guidelines within which States can set their hunting seasons.
In 1995, the USFWS adopted the concept of adaptive resource management (Walters 1986) for regulating duck
harvests in the United States. This approach explicitly recognizes that the consequences of hunting regulations
cannot be predicted with certainty and provides a framework for making objective decisions in the face of that
uncertainty (Williams and Johnson 1995). Inherent in the adaptive approach is an awareness that management
performance can be maximized only if regulatory effects can be predicted reliably. Thus, adaptive management
relies on an iterative cycle of monitoring, assessment, and decision-making to clarify the relationships among
hunting regulations, harvests, and waterfowl abundance.
In regulating waterfowl harvests, managers face four fundamental sources of uncertainty (Nichols et al. 1995a,
Johnson et al. 1996, Williams et al. 1996):
(1) environmental variation - the temporal and spatial variation in weather conditions and other key features
of waterfowl habitat; an example is the annual change in the number of ponds in the Prairie Pothole
Region, where water conditions influence duck reproductive success;
(2) partial controllability - the ability of managers to control harvest only within limits; the harvest resulting
from a particular set of hunting regulations cannot be predicted with certainty because of variation in
weather conditions, timing of migration, hunter effort, and other factors;
(3) partial observability - the ability to estimate key population attributes (e.g., population size, reproductive
rate, harvest) only within the precision afforded by extant monitoring programs; and
(4) structural uncertainty - an incomplete understanding of biological processes; a familiar example is the
long-standing debate about whether harvest is additive to other sources of mortality or whether
populations compensate for hunting losses through reduced natural mortality. Structural uncertainty
increases contentiousness in the decision-making process and decreases the extent to which managers can
meet long-term conservation goals.
AHM was developed as a systematic process for dealing objectively with these uncertainties. The key
components of AHM include (Johnson et al. 1993, Williams and Johnson 1995):
(1) a limited number of regulatory alternatives, which describe Flyway-specific season lengths, bag limits,
and framework dates;
(2) a set of population models describing various hypotheses about the effects of harvest and environmental
factors on waterfowl abundance;
(3) a measure of reliability (probability or "weight") for each population model; and
(4) a mathematical description of the objective(s) of harvest management (i.e., an "objective function"), by
which alternative regulatory strategies can be compared.
These components are used in a stochastic optimization procedure to derive a regulatory strategy. A regulatory
strategy specifies the optimal regulatory choice, with respect to the stated management objectives, for each
possible combination of breeding population size, environmental conditions, and model weights (Johnson et al.
1997). The setting of annual hunting regulations then involves an iterative process:
(1) each year, an optimal regulatory choice is identified based on resource and environmental conditions, and
on current model weights;
5
(2) after the regulatory decision is made, model-specific predictions for subsequent breeding population size
are determined;
(3) when monitoring data become available, model weights are increased to the extent that observations of
population size agree with predictions, and decreased to the extent that they disagree; and
(4) the new model weights are used to start another iteration of the process.
By iteratively updating model weights and optimizing regulatory choices, the process should eventually identify
which model is the best overall predictor of changes in population abundance. The process is optimal in the sense
that it provides the regulatory choice each year necessary to maximize management performance. It is adaptive in
the sense that the harvest strategy “evolves” to account for new knowledge generated by a comparison of
predicted and observed population sizes.
MALLARD STOCKS AND FLYWAY MANAGEMENT
Since its inception AHM has focused on the population dynamics and harvest potential of mallards, especially
those breeding in mid-continent North America. Mallards constitute a large portion of the total U.S. duck harvest,
and traditionally have been a reliable indicator of the status of many other species. As management capabilities
have grown, there has been increasing interest in the ecology and management of breeding mallards that occur
outside the mid-continent region. Geographic differences in the reproduction, mortality, and migrations of
mallard stocks suggest that there may be corresponding differences in optimal levels of sport harvest. The ability
to regulate harvests of mallards originating from various breeding areas is complicated, however, by the fact that a
large degree of mixing occurs during the hunting season. The challenge for managers, then, is to vary hunting
regulations among Flyways in a manner that recognizes each Flyway’s unique breeding-ground derivation of
mallards. Of course, no Flyway receives mallards exclusively from one breeding area, therefore Flyway-specific
harvest strategies ideally should account for multiple breeding stocks that are exposed to a common harvest.
The optimization procedures used in AHM can account for breeding populations of mallards beyond the mid-continent
region, and for the manner in which these ducks distribute themselves among the Flyways during the
hunting season. An optimal approach would allow for Flyway-specific regulatory strategies, which in a sense
represent for each Flyway an average of the optimal harvest strategies for each contributing breeding stock,
weighted by the relative size of each stock in the fall flight. This joint optimization of multiple mallard stocks
requires: (1) models of population dynamics for all recognized stocks of mallards; (2) an objective function that
accounts for harvest-management goals for all mallard stocks in the aggregate; and (3) decision rules allowing
Flyway-specific regulatory choices.
Currently, three stocks of mallards are officially recognized for the purposes of AHM (Fig. 1). We use a
constrained approach to the optimization of these stocks’ harvest, in which the Atlantic Flyway regulatory
strategy is based exclusively on the status of eastern mallards, the regulatory strategy for the Mississippi and
Central Flyways is based exclusively on the status of mid-continent mallards, and the Pacific Flyway regulatory
strategy is based exclusively on the status of western mallards. This approach has been determined to perform
nearly as well as a joint-optimization because mixing of the three stocks during the hunting season is limited and
because of the constraints imposed by management objectives and regulatory alternatives.
6
Fig 1. Survey areas currently assigned to the mid-continent, eastern, and western stocks of mallards
for the purposes of AHM.
MALLARD POPULATION DYNAMICS
Mid-Continent Stock
For this year, mid-continent mallards have been re-defined as those breeding in WBPHS strata 13–18, 20–50, and
75–77, and in the Great Lakes region (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin; Fig. 1). Estimates of the size of this
population are available since 1992, and have varied from 6.4 to 11.2 million (Table 1, Fig. 2). Estimated
breeding-population size in 2008 was 7.87 million (SE = 0.26 million), including 7.19 million (SE = 0.29 million)
from the WBPHS and 675 thousand (SE = 48 thousand) from the Great Lakes region.
Details describing the set of population models for mid-continent mallards are provided in Appendix 2. The set
consists of four alternatives, formed by the combination of two survival hypotheses (additive vs. compensatory
hunting mortality) and two reproductive hypotheses (strongly vs. weakly density dependent). Relative weights
for the alternative models of mid-continent mallards changed little until all models under-predicted the change in
population size from 1998 to 1999, perhaps indicating there is a significant factor affecting population dynamics
that is absent from all four models (Fig. 3). Updated model weights suggest some preference for the additive-
7
Table 1. Estimates (N) and associated standard errors (SE) of mid-continent mallards (in millions) in the
WBPHS (strata 13–18, 20–50, and 75–77) and the Great Lakes region (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin).
WBPHS area Great Lakes region Total
Year N SE N SE N SE
1992 5.6304 0.2379 0.9946 0.1597 6.6249 0.2865
1993 5.4253 0.2068 0.9347 0.1457 6.3600 0.2529
1994 6.6292 0.2803 1.1505 0.1163 7.7797 0.3035
1995 7.7452 0.2793 1.1214 0.1965 8.8666 0.3415
1996 7.4193 0.2593 1.0251 0.1443 8.4444 0.2967
1997 9.3554 0.3041 1.0777 0.1445 10.4331 0.3367
1998 8.8041 0.2940 1.1224 0.1792 9.9266 0.3443
1999 10.0926 0.3374 1.0591 0.2122 11.1518 0.3986
2000 8.6999 0.2855 1.2350 0.1761 9.9348 0.3354
2001 7.1857 0.2204 0.8622 0.1086 8.0479 0.2457
2002 6.8364 0.2412 1.0820 0.1152 7.9184 0.2673
2003 7.1062 0.2589 0.8360 0.0734 7.9422 0.2691
2004 6.6142 0.2746 0.9333 0.0748 7.5474 0.2847
2005 6.0521 0.2754 0.7862 0.0650 6.8383 0.2830
2006 6.7607 0.2187 0.5881 0.0465 7.3488 0.2236
2007 7.7258 0.2805 0.7677 0.0584 8.4935 0.2865
2008 7.1914 0.2525 0.6750 0.0478 7.8664 0.2570
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
1991 1995 1999 2003 2007
Year
Population size (millions)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
WBPHS survey
Great Lakes
Total
Fig. 2. Population estimates of mid-continent mallards in the WBPHS (strata: 13–18, 20–50, and
75–77) and the Great Lakes region (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin). Error bars represent
one standard error.
8
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007
Year
Model Weight
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
ScRw
SaRs
SaRw
ScRs
Fig 3. Weights for models of mid-continent mallards (ScRs = compensatory mortality and strongly
density-dependent reproduction, ScRw = compensatory mortality and weakly density-dependent
reproduction, SaRs = additive mortality and strongly density-dependent reproduction, and SaRw =
additive mortality and weakly density-dependent reproduction). Model weights were assumed to be
equal in 1995.
mortality models (62%) over those describing hunting mortality as compensatory (38%). For most of the time
frame, model weights have strongly favored the weakly density-dependent reproductive models over the strongly
density-dependent ones, with current model weights of 85% and 15%, respectively. The reader is cautioned,
however, that models can sometimes make reliable predictions of population size for reasons having little to do
with the biological hypotheses expressed therein (Johnson et al. 2002b).
Eastern Stock
Eastern mallards are defined as those breeding in southern Ontario and Quebec (WBPHS strata 51–54 and 56) and
in the northeastern U.S. (AFBWS; Heusman and Sauer 2000; Fig. 1). Estimates of population size have varied
from 815 thousand to 1.1 million since 1990, with the majority of the population accounted for in the northeastern
U.S. (Table 2, Fig. 4). For 2008, the estimated breeding-population size of eastern mallards was 815 thousand
(SE = 51 thousand), including 619 thousand (SE = 41 thousand) from the northeastern U.S. and 196 thousand (SE
= 30 thousand) from the WBPHS. The reader is cautioned that these estimates differ from those reported in the
USFWS annual waterfowl trend and status reports, which include composite estimates based on more fixed-wing
strata in eastern Canada and helicopter surveys conducted by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS).
Details concerning the set of population models for eastern mallards are provided in Appendix 3. The set consists
of six alternatives, formed by the combination of two reproductive hypotheses (strongly vs. weakly density
dependent) and three hypotheses concerning bias in estimates of survival and reproductive rates (no bias vs.
biased survival rates vs. biased reproductive rates). With respect to model weights, there is no single model that is
clearly favored over the others at the current time. Collectively, current model weights provide little
discrimination between the weakly density-dependent or strongly density dependence reproductive hypotheses,
with current model weights of 54% and 46%, respectively (Fig. 5). In addition, there is overwhelming evidence
of bias in extant estimates of survival or reproductive rates (100%), assuming that survey estimates are unbiased.
9
Table 2. Estimates (N) and associated standard errors (SE) of eastern mallards (in thousands) in the
northeastern U.S. (AFBWS) and southern Ontario and Quebec (WBPHS strata 51–54 and 56).
Northeastern U.S. Canadian survey strata Total
Year N SE N SE N SE
1990 665.1 78.3 190.7 47.2 855.8 91.4
1991 779.2 88.3 152.8 33.7 932.0 94.5
1992 562.2 47.9 320.3 53.0 882.5 71.5
1993 686.6 49.9 292.1 48.2 978.6 69.4
1994 856.3 62.8 219.5 28.2 1075.8 68.8
1995 864.1 70.4 184.4 40.0 1048.6 81.0
1996 848.6 61.1 283.1 55.7 1131.7 82.6
1997 795.2 49.6 212.1 39.6 1007.3 63.4
1998 775.2 49.7 263.8 67.2 1039.0 83.6
1999 880.0 60.2 212.5 36.9 1092.4 70.6
2000 762.6 48.7 132.3 26.4 894.8 55.4
2001 809.4 51.6 200.2 35.6 1009.7 62.7
2002 833.5 56.2 191.5 31.9 1025.0 64.7
2003 731.9 47.0 308.3 55.4 1040.2 72.6
2004 806.6 51.7 301.5 53.3 1108.1 74.3
2005 753.6 53.6 293.4 53.1 1047.0 75.5
2006 721.4 47.6 174.0 28.4 895.4 55.5
2007 687.6 46.7 219.3 33.6 906.9 57.6
2008 619.1 40.7 196.0 30.0 815.1 50.5
10
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1989 1994 1999 2004 2009
Year
Population size (millions)
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
AFBWS
WBPHS
Total
Fig. 4. Population estimates of eastern mallards in the northeastern states (AFBWS) and in
southern Ontario and Quebec (WBPHS strata 51–54 and 56). Error bars represent one standard
error.
1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Year
Model weight
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Rw0
Rs0
RwS
RsS
RwR
RsR
Fig. 5. Weights for models of eastern mallards (Rw0 = weak density-dependent reproduction and
no model bias, Rs0 = strong -dependent reproduction and no model bias, RwS = weak density-dependent
reproduction and biased survival rates, RsS = strong density-dependent reproduction
and biased survival rates, RwR = weak density-dependent reproduction and biased reproductive
rates, and RsR = strong density-dependent reproduction and biased reproductive rates). Model
weights were assumed to be equal in 1996.
11
Western Stock
Western mallards consist of 2 substocks and are defined as those birds breeding in Alaska (WBPHS strata 1–12)
and those birds breeding in California and Oregon (state surveys). Estimates of the size of these subpopulations
have varied from 283 to 843 thousand in Alaska since 1990 and 355 to 694 thousand in California and Oregon
since 1992 (Table 3, Fig. 6). The total population size of western mallards has ranged from 0.748 to 1.407
million.
Ideally, the western mallard stock assessment would account for mallards breeding in the states of the Pacific
Flyway (including Alaska), British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory. However, we have had continuing
concerns about our ability to determine changes in population size based on the collection of surveys conducted
independently by Pacific Flyway States and the CWS in British Columbia. These surveys tend to vary in design
and intensity, and in some cases lack measures of precision. We reviewed extant surveys to determine their
adequacy for supporting a western-mallard AHM protocol and selected Alaska, California, and Oregon for
modeling purposes. These three states likely harbor about 75% of the western-mallard breeding population.
Nonetheless, this geographic delineation is considered temporary until surveys in other areas can be brought up to
similar standards and an adequate record of population estimates is available for analysis.
Details concerning the set of population models for western mallards are provided in Appendix 4. To predict
changes in abundance we relied on a discrete logistic model, which combines reproduction and natural mortality
into a single parameter, r, the intrinsic rate of growth. This model assumes density-dependent growth, which is
regulated by the ratio of population size, N, to the carrying capacity of the environment, K (i.e., equilibrium
population size in the absence of harvest). In the traditional formulation of the logistic model, harvest mortality is
completely additive and any compensation for hunting losses occurs as a result of density-dependent responses
beginning in the subsequent breeding season. To increase the model’s generality we included a scaling parameter
for harvest that allows for the possibility of compensation prior to the breeding season. It is important to note,
however, that this parameterization does not incorporate any hypothesized mechanism for harvest compensation
and, therefore, must be interpreted cautiously. We modeled Alaska mallards independently of those in California
and Oregon because of differing population trajectories (Fig. 6) and substantial differences in the distribution of
band recoveries.
We used Bayesian estimation methods in combination with a state-space model that accounts explicitly for both
process and observation error in breeding population size (Meyer and Millar 1999). Breeding population
estimates of mallards in Alaska are available since 1955, but we had to limit the time-series to 1990–2005 because
of changes in survey methodology and insufficient band-recovery data. The logistic model and associated
posterior parameter estimates provided a reasonable fit to the observed time-series of Alaska population estimates.
The estimated carrying capacity was 1.2 million, the intrinsic rate of growth was 0.32, and harvest mortality
acted in an additive fashion. Breeding population and harvest-rate data were available for California-Oregon
mallards for the period 1992–2006. The logistic model also provided a reasonable fit to these data, suggesting a
carrying capacity of 0.7 million, an intrinsic rate of growth of 0.36, and harvest mortality that acted in only a
partially additive manner.
12
Table 3. Estimates (N) and associated standard errors (SE) of mallards (in thousands) in Alaska (WBPHS
strata 1–12) and California and Oregon (state surveys) combined.
Alaska California-Oregon Total
Year N SE N SE N SE
1990 366.9 37.0
1991 385.3 36.3
1992 345.7 38.7 483.5 60.5 829.2 71.8
1993 283.0 29.5 465.4 51.0 748.4 58.9
1994 350.9 37.1 436.7 42.6 787.6 56.5
1995 524.2 68.0 454.1 42.8 978.3 80.3
1996 522.0 43.6 645.1 80.2 1167.1 91.2
1997 584.2 52.0 639.0 104.3 1223.2 116.6
1998 836.2 67.3 486.8 48.9 1323.0 83.2
1999 713.1 69.6 693.7 106.6 1406.8 127.3
2000 770.3 52.2 463.9 53.2 1234.2 74.5
2001 718.3 54.1 404.4 45.1 1122.7 70.5
2002 667.3 50.7 377.5 32.7 1044.9 60.3
2003 843.5 66.8 434.0 50.1 1277.5 83.5
2004 811.1 63.9 354.7 35.2 1165.8 72.9
2005 703.1 54.7 401.4 47.4 1104.5 72.4
2006 515.8 46.9 487.9 57.6 1003.7 74.3
2007 581.5 55.1 490.0 54.6 1071.5 77.5
2008 532.4 46.8 381.4 47.8 913.8 66.9
13
Year
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008
Population size (millions)
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6
AK
CA-OR
Total
Fig. 6. Population estimates of western mallards in Alaska (WBPHS strata 1–12) and California
and Oregon (state surveys) combined. Error bars represent one standard error.
Ideally, the development of AHM protocols for mallards would consider how different breeding stocks distribute
themselves among the four flyways so that Flyway-specific harvest strategies could account for the mixing of
birds during the hunting season. At present, however, a joint optimization of western, mid-continent, and eastern
stocks is not feasible due to computational hurdles. However, our preliminary analyses suggest that the lack of a
joint optimization does not result in a significant decrease in performance. Therefore, the AHM protocol for
western mallards is structured similarly to that used for eastern mallards, in which an optimal harvest strategy is
based on the status of a single breeding stock and harvest regulations in a single flyway. Although the
contribution of mid-continent mallards to the Pacific Flyway harvest is significant, we believe an independent
harvest strategy for western mallards poses little risk to the mid-continent stock. Further analyses will be needed
to confirm this conclusion, as well as to better understand the potential effect of mid-continent mallard status on
sustainable hunting opportunities in the Pacific Flyway.
HARVEST-MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES
The basic harvest-management objective for mid-continent mallards is to maximize cumulative harvest over the
long term, which inherently requires perpetuation of a viable population. Moreover, this objective is constrained
to avoid regulations that could be expected to result in a subsequent population size below the goal of the North
American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP). According to this constraint, the value of harvest decreases
proportionally as the difference between the goal and expected population size increases. This balance of harvest
and population objectives results in a regulatory strategy that is more conservative than that for maximizing long-term
harvest, but more liberal than a strategy to attain the NAWMP goal (regardless of effects on hunting
opportunity). The current objective uses a population goal of 8.5 million mallards, which is based on 7.9 million
14
mallards from the WBPHS (strata 13–18, 20–50, and 75–77) based on the 1998 update of the NAWMP and a goal
of 0.6 million for the combined states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
For eastern and western mallards, there is no NAWMP goal or other established target for desired population size.
Accordingly, the management objective for eastern and western mallards is simply to maximize long-term
cumulative (i.e., sustainable) harvest. Additionally for western mallards, maximum long-term cumulative harvest
is subject to a constraint intended to prevent extreme changes in regulations associated with relatively small
changes in population sizes.
REGULATORY ALTERNATIVES
Evolution of Alternatives
When AHM was first implemented in 1995, three regulatory alternatives characterized as liberal, moderate, and
restrictive were defined based on regulations used during 1979–84, 1985–87, and 1988–93, respectively. These
regulatory alternatives also were considered for the 1996 hunting season. In 1997, the regulatory alternatives
were modified to include: (1) the addition of a very-restrictive alternative; (2) additional days and a higher duck
bag limit in the moderate and liberal alternatives; and (3) an increase in the bag limit of hen mallards in the
moderate and liberal alternatives. In 2002 the USFWS further modified the moderate and liberal alternatives to
include extensions of approximately one week in both the opening and closing framework dates.
In 2003 the very-restrictive alternative was eliminated at the request of the Flyway Councils. Expected harvest
rates under the very-restrictive alternative did not differ significantly from those under the restrictive alternative,
and the very-restrictive alternative was expected to be prescribed for < 5% of all hunting seasons. Also in 2003,
at the request of the Flyway Councils the USFWS agreed to exclude closed duck-hunting seasons from the AHM
protocol when the population size of mid-continent mallards was ≥ 5.5 million (WBPHS strata 1–18, 20–50, and
75–77 plus the Great Lakes region). Based on our original assessment, closed hunting seasons did not appear to
be necessary from the perspective of sustainable harvesting when the mid-continent mallard population exceeded
this level. The impact of maintaining open seasons above this level also appeared negligible for other mid-continent
duck species, as based on population models developed by Johnson (2003).
This year, based on the re-definition of the mid-continent mallard stock that excludes mallards breeding in Alaska,
we re-scaled the closed-season constraint. Initially, we attempted to adjust the original 5.5 million closure
threshold by subtracting out the 1985 Alaska breeding population estimate, which was the year upon which the
original closed season constraint was based. Our initial re-scaling resulted in a new threshold equal to 5.25
million. Simulations based on optimal policies using this revised closed season constraint suggested that the
Mississippi and Central Flyways would experience a 70% increase in the frequency of closed seasons. At this
time, we agreed to consider alternative re-scalings in order to minimize the effects on the mid-continent mallard
strategy and account for the increase in mean breeding population sizes in Alaska over the past several decades.
Based on this assessment, we recommended a revised closed season constraint of 4.75 million which resulted in a
strategy performance equivalent to the performance expected prior to the re-definition of the mid-continent
mallard stock. Because the performance of the revised strategy is essentially unchanged from the original
strategy, we believe it will have no greater impact on other duck stocks in the Mississippi and Central Flyways.
However, complete or partial season-closures for particular species or populations could still be deemed necessary
in some situations regardless of the status of mid-continent mallards. Details of the regulatory alternatives for
each Flyway are provided in Table 4.
Table 4. Regulatory alternatives for the 2008 duck-hunting season.
15
Flyway
Regulation Atlantica Mississippi Centralb Pacificc
Shooting hours one-half hour before sunrise to sunset
Framework dates
Restrictive Oct 1 – Jan 20 Saturday nearest Oct 1to the Sunday nearest Jan 20
Moderate and
Liberal
Saturday nearest September 24
to the last Sunday in January
Season length (days)
Restrictive 30 30 39 60
Moderate 45 45 60 86
Liberal 60 60 74 107
Bag limit (total / mallard / female mallard)
Restrictive 3 / 3 / 1 3 / 2 / 1 3 / 3 / 1 4 / 3 / 1
Moderate 6 / 4 / 2 6 / 4 / 1 6 / 5 / 1 7 / 5 / 2
Liberal 6 / 4 / 2 6 / 4 / 2 6 / 5 / 2 7 / 7 / 2
a The states of Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, West
Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina are permitted to exclude Sundays, which are closed to hunting, from
their total allotment of season days.
b The High Plains Mallard Management Unit is allowed 12, 23, and 23 extra days in the restrictive, moderate,
and liberal alternatives, respectively.
c The Columbia Basin Mallard Management Unit is allowed seven extra days in the restrictive, and moderate
alternatives.
Regulation-Specific Harvest Rates
Harvest rates of mallards associated with each of the open-season regulatory alternatives were initially predicted
using harvest-rate estimates from 1979–84, which were adjusted to reflect current hunter numbers and
contemporary specifications of season lengths and bag limits. In the case of closed seasons in the U.S., we
assumed rates of harvest would be similar to those observed in Canada during 1988–93, which was a period of
restrictive regulations both in Canada and the U.S. All harvest-rate predictions were based only in part on band-recovery
data, and relied heavily on models of hunting effort and success derived from hunter surveys (Appendix
C in USFWS 2002). As such, these predictions had large sampling variances and their accuracy was uncertain.
In 2002, we began relying on Bayesian statistical methods for improving regulation-specific predictions of harvest
rates, including predictions of the effects of framework-date extensions. Essentially, the idea is to use existing
(prior) information to develop initial harvest-rate predictions (as above), to make regulatory decisions based on
those predictions, and then to observe realized harvest rates. Those observed harvest rates, in turn, are treated as
new sources of information for calculating updated (posterior) predictions. Bayesian methods are attractive
because they provide a quantitative and formal, yet intuitive, approach to adaptive management.
16
For mid-continent mallards, we have empirical estimates of harvest rate from the recent period of liberal hunting
regulations (1998–2007). The Bayesian methods thus allow us to combine these estimates with our prior
predictions to provide updated estimates of harvest rates expected under the liberal regulatory alternative.
Moreover, in the absence of experience (so far) with the restrictive and moderate regulatory alternatives, we
reasoned that our initial predictions of harvest rates associated with those alternatives should be re-scaled based
on a comparison of predicted and observed harvest rates under the liberal regulatory alternative. In other words,
if observed harvest rates under the liberal alternative were 10% less than predicted, then we might also expect that
the mean harvest rate under the moderate alternative would be 10% less than predicted. The appropriate scaling
factors currently are based exclusively on prior beliefs about differences in mean harvest rate among regulatory
alternatives, but they will be updated once we have experience with something other than the liberal alternative.
A detailed description of the analytical framework for modeling mallard harvest rates is provided in Appendix 5.
Our models of regulation-specific harvest rates also allow for the marginal effect of framework-date
extensions in the moderate and liberal alternatives. A previous analysis by the USFWS (2001) suggested
that implementation of framework-date extensions might be expected to increase the harvest rate of mid-continent
mallards by about 15%, or in absolute terms by about 0.02 (SD = 0.01). Based on the observed
harvest rates during the 2002–2007 hunting seasons, the updated (posterior) estimate of the marginal
change in harvest rate attributable to the framework-date extension is 0.006 (SD = 0.008). The estimated
effect of the framework-date extension has been to increase harvest rate of mid-continent mallards by
about 5% over what would otherwise be expected in the liberal alternative. However, the reader is
strongly cautioned that reliable inference about the marginal effect of framework-date extensions
ultimately depends on a rigorous experimental design (including controls and random application of
treatments).
Current predictions of harvest rates of adult-male mid-continent mallards associated with each of the regulatory
alternatives are provided in Table 5. Predictions of harvest rates for the other age-sex cohorts are based on the
historical ratios of cohort-specific harvest rates to adult-male rates (Runge et al. 2002). These ratios are
considered fixed at their long-term averages and are 1.5407, 0.7191, and 1.1175 for young males, adult females,
and young females, respectively. We make the simplifying assumption that the harvest rates of mid-continent
mallards depend solely on the regulatory choice in the Mississippi and Central Flyways.
Table 5. Predictions of harvest rates of adult-male mid-continent mallards expected with
application of the 2008 regulatory alternatives in the Mississippi and Central Flyways.
Regulatory alternative Mean SD
Closed (U.S.) 0.0088 0.0019
Restrictive 0.0560 0.0129
Moderate 0.0978 0.0216
Liberal 0.1153 0.0207
The predicted harvest rates of eastern-mallard are updated in the same fashion as that for mid-continent mallards
17
based on reward banding conducted in eastern Canada and the northeastern U.S. (Appendix 5). Like mid-continent
mallards, harvest rates of age and sex cohorts other than adult male mallards are based on constant rates
of differential vulnerability as derived from band-recovery data. For eastern mallards, these constants are 1.153,
1.331, and 1.509 for adult females, young males, and young females, respectively (Johnson et al. 2002a).
Regulation-specific predictions of harvest rates of adult-male eastern mallards are provided in Table 6.
In contrast to mid-continent mallards, framework-date extensions were expected to increase the harvest rate of
eastern mallards by only about 5% (USFWS 2001), or in absolute terms by about 0.01 (SD = 0.01). Based on the
observed harvest rates during the 2002–2007 hunting seasons, the updated (posterior) estimate of the marginal
change in harvest rate attributable to the framework-date extension is 0.004 (SD = 0.010). The estimated effect of
the framework-date extension has been to increase harvest rate of eastern mallards by about 3% over what would
otherwise be expected in the liberal alternative.
Table 6. Predictions of harvest rates of adult-male eastern mallards expected with
application of the 2008 regulatory alternatives in the Atlantic Flyway.
Regulatory alternative Mean SD
Closed (U.S.) 0.0789 0.0233
Restrictive 0.1126 0.0394
Moderate 0.1407 0.0471
Liberal 0.1528 0.0446
Based on available estimates of harvest rates of mallards banded in California and Oregon during 1990–1995 and
2002–2007, there is no apparent relationship between harvest rate and regulatory changes in the Pacific Flyway.
This is unusual given our ability to document such a relationship in other mallard stocks and in other species. We
note, however, that the period 2002–2007 was comprised of both stable and liberal regulations and harvest rate
estimates were based solely on reward bands. Regulations were relatively restrictive during most of the earlier
period and harvest rates were estimated based on standard bands using reporting rates estimated from reward
banding during 1987–1988. Additionally, 1993–1995 were transition years in which full-address and toll-free
bands were being introduced and information to assess their reporting rates (and their effects on reporting rates of
standard bands) is limited. Thus, the two periods in which we wish to compare harvest rates are characterized not
only by changes in regulations, but also in estimation methods.
Consequently, we lack a sound empirical basis for predicting harvest rates of western mallards associated with
current regulatory alternatives in the Pacific Flyway. For this year, however, we specified regulation-specific
harvest rates with associated standard deviations for the closed, restrictive, moderate, and liberal alternatives
(Table 7). Harvest rates for the liberal alternative were based on empirical estimates realized under the current
liberal alternative during 2002–2007 and determined from adult-male mallards banded with reward bands in
California and Oregon. Harvest rates for the moderate and restrictive alternatives were based on the proportional
(0.85 and 0.51) difference in harvest rates expected for mid-continent mallards under the respective alternatives.
A relatively large standard deviation (CV=0.3) was chosen to reflect greater uncertainty about the means than that
for mid-continent mallards (CV=0.2). And finally, harvest rate for the closed alternative was based on what we
might realize with a closed season in the U.S. (including Alaska) and a very restrictive season in Canada, similar
to that for mid-continent mallards. Prior to next year, assumptions about harvest rates will be reviewed and
modified if appropriate. Further, we intend to develop a Bayesian hierarchical framework to update harvest rate
estimates as experience allows. This framework will be analogous to that currently in use for mid-continent and
eastern mallards (refer to Appendix 5).
Table 7. Predictions of harvest rates of adult-male western mallards expected with
18
application of the 2008 regulatory alternatives in the Atlantic Flyway.
Regulatory alternative Mean SD
Closed (U.S.) 0.110 0.010
Restrictive 0.090 0.030
Moderate 0.060 0.020
Liberal 0.001 0.002
OPTIMAL REGULATORY STRATEGIES
We calculated optimal regulatory strategies using stochastic dynamic programming (Lubow 1995, Johnson and
Williams 1999). For the Mississippi and Central Flyways, we based this optimization on: (1) the 2008 regulatory
alternatives, including the closed-season constraint; (2) current population models and associated weights for mid-continent
mallards; and (3) the dual objectives of maximizing long-term cumulative harvest and achieving a
population goal of 8.5 million mid-continent mallards. The resulting regulatory strategy reflects the changes
resulting from the removal of Alaska from the mid-continent stock (Table 8). Note that prescriptions for closed
seasons in this strategy represent resource conditions that are insufficient to support one of the current regulatory
alternatives, given current harvest-management objectives and constraints. However, closed seasons under all of
these conditions are not necessarily required for long-term resource protection, and simply reflect the NAWMP
population goal and the nature of the current regulatory alternatives. Assuming that regulatory choices adhered to
this strategy (and that current model weights accurately reflect population dynamics), breeding-population size
would be expected to average 6.82 million (SD = 1.83 million). Based on an estimated population size of 7.87
million mid-continent mallards and 3.05 million ponds in Prairie Canada, the optimal choice for the Mississippi
and Central Flyways in 2008 is the liberal regulatory alternative.
We calculated an optimal regulatory strategy for the Atlantic Flyway based on: (1) the 2008 regulatory
alternatives; (2) current population models and associated weights for eastern mallards; and (3) an objective to
maximize long-term cumulative harvest. The resulting strategy suggests liberal regulations for all population sizes
of record, and is characterized by a lack of intermediate regulations (Table 9). We simulated the use of this
regulatory strategy to determine expected performance characteristics. Assuming that harvest management
adhered to this strategy (and that current model weights accurately reflect population dynamics), breeding-population
size would be expected to average 891 thousand (SD = 17 thousand). Based on an estimated breeding
population size of 815 thousand mallards, the optimal choice for the Atlantic Flyway in 2008 is the liberal
regulatory alternative.
We calculated an optimal regulatory strategy for the Pacific Flyway based on: (1) the 2008 regulatory
alternatives, (2) current (1990–2007) population models and parameter estimates, and (3) an objective to
maximize long-term cumulative harvest subject to a constraint intended to prevent extreme changes in regulations
associated with relatively small changes in population sizes (Table 10). We simulated the use of this regulatory
strategy to determine expected performance characteristics. Assuming that harvest management adhered to this
strategy (and that current model parameters accurately reflect population dynamics), breeding-population size
would be expected to average 1.1 million (SD = 0.21 million) in Alaska and 0.48 million (SD = 0.03 million) in
California and Oregon. Based on an estimated breeding population size of 532 thousand mallards in Alaska and
381 thousand in California and Oregon, the optimal choice for the Pacific Flyway in 2008 is the liberal regulatory
alternative (see Table 10).
19
Table 8. Optimal regulatory strategya for the Mississippi and Central Flyways for the 2008 hunting season. This strategy is
based on current regulatory alternatives (including the closed-season constraint), on current mid-continent mallard models and
weights, and on the dual objectives of maximizing long-term cumulative harvest and achieving a population goal of 8.5 million
mallards. The shaded cell indicates the regulatory prescription for 2008.
Pondsc
Bpopb
1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0
≤ 4.5 C C C C C C C C C C
4.75–5.50 R R R R R R R R R R
5.75 R R R R R R R R R M
6.00 R R R R R R R M L L
6.25 R R R R M M M L L L
6.50 R R R M M L L L L L
6.75 R M M L L L L L L L
7.00 M M L L L L L L L L
≥ 7.25 L L L L L L L L L L
a C = closed season, R = restrictive, M = moderate, L = liberal.
b Mallard breeding population size (in millions) in the WBPHS (strata 13–18, 20–50, 75–77) and Michigan, Minnesota, and
Wisconsin.
c Ponds (in millions) in Prairie Canada in May.
Table 9. Optimal regulatory strategya for the Atlantic Flyway for
the 2008 hunting season. This strategy is based on current
regulatory alternatives, on current eastern mallard models and
weights, and on an objective to maximize long-term cumulative
harvest. The shaded cell indicates the regulatory prescription for
2008.
Mallardsb Regulation
≤ 250 C
300 R
≥ 350 L
a C = closed season, R = restrictive, M = moderate, and L = liberal.
b Estimated number of mallards in eastern Canada (WBPHS
strata 51–54, 56) and the northeastern U.S. (AFBWS), in
thousands.
20
Table 10. Optimal regulatory strategya for the Pacific Flyway during the 2008 hunting season. This strategy is based on the
2008 regulatory alternatives, current (1990–07) population models and parameter estimates, and an objective to maximize
long-term cumulative harvest subject to a constraint intended to prevent extreme changes in regulations associated with
relatively small changes in population sizes. The shaded cell indicates the regulatory prescription for 2008.
CA-OR Alaska BPOPb
BPOPb 0 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50 ≥ 0.55
0 C C L L L L L L L L L L
0.05 C C R R R R R R M L L L
0.10 C R R R R R R M L L L L
0.15 R R R R R M L L L L L L
0.20 R R R R M L L L L L L L
0.25 R R M M L L L L L L L L
0.30 M L L L L L L L L L L L
0.35 L L L L L L L L L L L L
0.40 L L L L L L L L L L L L
≥ 0.45 L L L L L L L L L L L L
a C = closed season, R = restrictive, M = moderate, and L = liberal.
b Estimated number of mallards in millions for Alaska (WBPHS strata 1–12) and in California and Oregon.
Application of AHM Concepts to Other Stocks
The USFWS is striving to apply the principles and tools of AHM to improve decision-making for several other
stocks of waterfowl. We report on four such efforts in which progress has been made since last year.
American Black Ducks
Beginning in 2003, the USFWS Division of Migratory Bird Management (DMBM) began investigating optimal
harvest strategies for black ducks based on models of population dynamics provided by Conroy et al. (2002). As
a result of that investigation DMBM concluded that recent harvest rates of black ducks have sometimes been at or
above levels consistent with an objective to maximize sustainable harvest. That conclusion ultimately led to a
DMBM recommendation in January 2006 to reduce the harvest rate of adult black ducks by 25%. However, the
recommendation was subsequently withdrawn because of: (1) published information suggesting that the mid-winter
inventory (MWI) may be “capturing” a smaller proportion of the black duck population than in the past
(Link et al. 2006); (2) concern about the U.S. acting unilaterally without the benefit of consultation with the
CWS; and (3) the short amount of time available to communicate to the public the rationale and nature of
restrictions on hunting opportunity.
In November 2006 the international Black Duck Adaptive Harvest Management Working Group (BDAHMWG)
met to discuss the most recent analysis by Drs. Mike Conroy and Jon Runge of the Georgia Cooperative Fish and
Wildlife Research Unit. Their update of the original analysis by Conroy et al. (2002) suggests that black duck
productivity has continued to decline for reasons that cannot be explained by changes in abundance of black
ducks (through density dependence) or sympatric mallards (through inter-species competition). However, there
were other differences in inferences based on the original and updated analyses that could not be reconciled. The
focus of research has now turned to population models based on integrated fixed-wing and helicopter surveys
21
conducted during the breeding season. For the present, however, the question of whether current harvest rates of
black ducks are consistent with black duck harvest potential and management objectives remains unanswered.
In 2006, due to potential changes in the wintering distribution of black ducks, the BDAHMWG did not endorse a
state-dependent harvest strategy (i.e., one in which optimal harvest rates depend on annual black duck abundance)
based on the MWI. However, it was suggested that a constant harvest-rate strategy may perform nearly as well
and might provide a basis for a joint Canada-U.S. harvest strategy until an assessment based on integrated
breeding-season surveys can be completed. The BDAHMWG agreed to investigate the performance of constant
harvest-rate strategies based on the original work of Conroy et al. (2002), recognizing that the original analysis
was conducted prior to what may be significant changes in the wintering distribution of black ducks. Thus, it was
agreed that the assessment by Conroy et al. (2002) might still provide a reasonable basis for investigating harvest
impacts and for evaluating the expected performance of constant harvest-rate strategies. Working within this
framework, the BDAHMWG developed a harvest strategy for consideration during the summer of 2007.
Negotiations among the CWS, USFWS, Atlantic Flyway, and Mississippi Flyway regarding this harvest strategy
failed to reach consensus on several critical issues, namely the specification of an appropriate harvest
management objective and on a mechanism for allocating black duck harvest among the U.S. and Canada. In
2007, the USFWS and CWS agreed to provide a forum through which these outstanding issues could be debated
and addressed. This led to the formation of the Black Duck International Management Group. This committee
consists of policy makers from the CWS, USFWS, Atlantic Flyway, and Mississippi Flyway.
In February 2008, the Black Duck International Management Group met in Ottawa, Ontario to address these and
other issues, to review progress on development of a fully adaptive harvest strategy based on integrated breeding
population estimates, and to outline the elements of an interim harvest strategy that would be in place until the
fully derived strategy is available. At this meeting, the Management Group reached agreement on an interim,
prescribed international harvest strategy. This strategy was discussed by the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyways
during their winter meetings. Recommendations from these meetings were considered by the Management Group
who incorporated many of them into the final proposed interim harvest strategy. The final strategy was endorsed
by the USFWS in June 2008 and will be used to guide harvest management decisions in the U.S. and Canada for 3
years unless a fully adaptive protocol is proposed and endorsed by both nations before the end of the 3-year
period. If, at the end of 3 years, a fully adaptive strategy is not ready for implementation, the Management Group
will review the interim strategy for possible revision and/or extension.
Presently, Dr. Mike Conroy of the Georgia Fish and Wildlife Cooperative Research Unit is developing a revised
set of models and a revised adaptive decision framework for black ducks based on integrated breeding population
survey estimates. The Black Duck International Management Group is coordinating with Dr. Conroy to ensure
that he has all required policy guidance (e.g., agreed upon management objective and constraints, agreed upon
harvest allocation rules) to complete development of the decision framework.
Atlantic Population of Canada Geese
For the purposes of this AHM application, Atlantic Population Canada Geese (APCG) are defined as those geese
breeding on the Ungava Peninsula. By this delineation, we assume that geese in the Atlantic population outside
this area are either few in number, similar in population dynamics to the Ungava birds, or both.
To account for heterogeneity among individuals, we developed a base model consisting of a truncated time-invariant
age-based projection model to describe the dynamics of APCG:
n(t+1)=An(t),
where n(t) is a vector of the abundances of the ages in the population at time t, and A is the population projection
matrix, whose ijth entry aij gives the contribution of an individual in stage j to stage i over 1 time step. The
22
projection interval (from
t to t+1) is one year,
with the census being
taken in mid- June (i.e., this
model has a pre-breeding
census). The life cycle
diagram reflecting the
transition sequence is:
where node 1 refers to one-year-old birds (N(1)), node 2 refers to two-year-old birds (N(2)), node B refers to adult
breeders (N(B)), and node NB refers to adult non-breeders N(NB). One immediate extension of the base model is to
remove the assumption of time-invariance, and express the parameters as time-dependent quantities:
Pt = proportion of adult birds in population in year t which breed;
Rt = basic breeding productivity in year t (per capita);
St
(0) = annual survival rate of young from fledging in year t to the census point the next year;
St
(1) = annual survival rate of one-year-old birds in year t; etc.
For APCG, only N(B), R and z are observable annually, where N(B) is the number of breeding adults, R is the per
capita reproductive rate (ratio of fledged young to breeding adults), and z is an extrinsic, environmental variable
(a function of timing of snow melt on the breeding grounds) that is used to predict R.
Note that at the time of the management decision in the United States (July), estimates for only the breeding
population size and the environmental variable(s) are available; the age-ratio isn’t estimated until later in the
summer. Thus, in year t, the observable state variables are Nt
(B), zt, and Rt–1.
There are several other state variables of interest, however, namely, N(1), N(2), and N(NB). Because annual harvest
decisions need to be made based on the total population size (Ntot), which is the sum of contributions from various
non-breeding age classes as well as the number of breeding individuals, abundance of non-breeding individuals
23
(N(NB), N(1), and N(2)) needs to be derived using population-reconstruction techniques. In most cases, population
reconstruction involves estimating the most likely population projection matrix, given a time series of population
vectors (where number of individuals in each age class at each time is known). However, in our case, only
estimates of NB, R and z are available (not the complete population vector); in effect, we must estimate some of
the population abundance values given the other parameters in the model. We developed a fully integrated
Bayesian hierarchical model to reconstruct goose population dynamics and formally estimate the unobserved
population parameters. With this approach, the survival, recruitment, and reconstruction analyses are embedded
into a common estimation platform that allows us to estimate the age structure of the population while
simultaneously accounting for all forms of sampling uncertainty.
The time series of breeding population size, age-ratio, and band recovery data were used to reconstruct the
population structure from 1997 to 2007, using a density-independent model (Fig. 7A). The estimated population
structure in 2007 is: 369.5 thousand breeding adults, 70.3 thousand non-breeding adults, 270.8 thousand second-year
birds, and 357.9 thousand first-year birds (Fig. 7B). The density-independent model projects significant
increases in the number of breeding pairs (~25% over the next two years) as these two sizeable cohorts come of
age.
Fig. 7. A. APCG breeding population size (in thousands), 1997–2007, with fitted values from
reconstruction (Model 1: density-independent). The closed circles show the observed estimates
of breeding population size (not breeding pairs); errors bars are ±2 SE. The solid line shows the
breeding population size estimated from the population reconstruction (gray shading represents
the 95% credibility interval). B. The age structure of the reconstructed population.
We require a way to forecast changes in population sizes as a function of the current population structure, the
intended harvest rate, and the observed weather variables. We have begun developing 4 alternative models to
capture the key uncertainties in our ability to predict population changes. These models include density-independent
population growth, density-dependent survival, density-dependent breeding propensity, and reporting
bias. We will parameterize these models with the integrated modeling framework while also estimating the
process variance.
An example harvest strategy for the density-independent model is shown in Fig. 8. The strategy suggests a closed
season under the 2007 population and environmental conditions, in order to increase more quickly toward the
desired population size. Note that the recommended harvest rate is not strongly affected by the measure of
current environmental conditions on the breeding grounds. The policy is very sensitive to the number of breeding
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
100000 200000 300000 400000
Number of Breeders
Observed
Reconstructed
A
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Numbers at Age in Thousands
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Juveniles
Two Year Olds
Breeding Adults
NonBreeding Adults
B
24
adults and second-year birds, while harvest recommendations are strongly affected by uncertainty about the
underlying population dynamics. We are starting to develop methods to weight the alternative models and
produce a composite optimal policy; such development is a high priority. In addition, we are in the process of
fitting the projection models to develop the model set and have begun exploring how to soften the knife-edge
property of the policy by including a cost function in the optimization.
Fig. 8. Examples of optimal harvest strategies for 2007 for models 1 (density-independent). These
matrices show the breeding population size against the measure of breeding habitat conditions (principal
component of the weather variables), with the other values of the population vector (NNB, N2, N1) fixed at
their 2007 reconstructed values.
Northern Pintails
The Flyway Councils have long identified the northern pintail as a high-priority species for inclusion in the AHM
process. In 1997, the USFWS adopted a pintail harvest strategy to help align harvest opportunity with population
status, while providing a foundation upon which to develop a formal AHM framework. Since 1997, the harvest
strategy has undergone a number of technical improvements and policy revisions. However, the strategy
continues to be a set of regulatory prescriptions born out of consensus, rather than an optimal strategy derived
from agreed-upon population models, management objectives, regulatory alternatives, and measures of
uncertainty.
-2 0 2
0
2
4
6
8
0 2 4 6 8
0
2
4
6
8
0 2 4 6 8
0
2
4
6
8
0 2 4 6 8
0
2
4
6
8
Environmental Variable First-yr birds
Second-yr birds Non-breeders
Breeding Population Size
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
AM harvest rate
25
In 2007, the USFWS and Flyway Councils took a major step towards a truly adaptive approach by incorporating
alternative models of population dynamics. Two models are considered: one in which harvest is additive to
natural mortality, and another in which harvest losses are compensated for by reductions in natural mortality. In
the additive model, winter survival rate is a constant, whereas winter survival is density-dependent in the
compensatory model. We here provide a summary of these recent modeling efforts. A detailed progress report is
available on-line at http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/mgmt/ahm/special-topics.htm.
The predicted cBPOPt in year t + 1 ( t+1 cBPOP ) for the additive harvest mortality model is calculated as
{ } t t s R t t w cBPOP cBPOP s (1 Rˆ ) Hˆ /(1 c) s 1 = + − − + γ
where t cBPOP is the latitude-adjusted breeding population size in year t, s s and w s are the summer and winter
survival rates, respectively, R γ is a bias-correction constant for the age-ratio, c is the crippling loss rate, t Rˆ
is the
predicted age-ratio, and t Hˆ
is the predicted continental harvest. Discussion of t Rˆ
and t Hˆ
submodels are found
in the following sections. The model uses the following constants: s s = 0.07, w s = 0.93, R γ = 0.8, and c = 0.20.
The compensatory harvest mortality model serves as a hypothesis that stands in contrast to the additive harvest
mortality model, positing a strong but realistic degree of compensation. The compensatory model assumes that
the mechanism for compensation is density-dependent post-harvest (winter) survival. The form is a logistic
relationship between winter survival and post-harvest population size, with the relationship anchored around the
historic mean values for each variable. For the compensatory model then, predicted winter survival rate in year t
( t s ) is calculated as
[ ( ( )) ] 1
0 1 0 ( )1 = + − + − a+b P −P −
t
s s s s e t ,
where 1 s (upper asymptote) is 1.0, 0 s (lower asymptote) is 0.7, b (slope term) is -1.0, t P is the post-harvest
population size in year t (expressed in millions), P is the mean post-harvest population size (4.295 million from
1974 through 2005), and
a = logit 0
1 0
s s
s s
⎛ − ⎞
⎜ − ⎟ ⎝ ⎠
or
⎭ ⎬ ⎫
⎩ ⎨ ⎧
⎟ ⎟⎠
⎞
⎜ ⎜⎝
⎛
−
−
− − ⎟ ⎟⎠
⎞
⎜ ⎜⎝ ⎛
−
−
=
1 0
0
1 0
log 0 log 1
s s
s s
s s
a s s ,
where s is 0.93 (mean winter survival rate).
At moderate population size and latitude, the compensatory model allows for greater harvest (Fig. 10) than does
the additive model (note especially that the size of the restrictive region [season-within-a-season] is smaller and is
invoked when the latitude is higher). Also, 2- and 3-bird bag limits are called for under more circumstances. But,
at high population sizes, the higher bag limits are called for less often, because the compensatory model predicts
that growth of the population will be slower (density-dependence).
The fit to historic data was used to compare the additive and compensatory harvest models. From the t cBPOP ,
t mLAT , and observed harvest ( t H ) for the period 1974–through year t, the subsequent year’s breeding
population size (on the latitude-adjusted scale) was predicted with both the additive and compensatory model, and
26
compared to the observed breeding population size (on the latitude-adjusted scale). The mean-squared error of
the predictions from the additive model ( add MSE ) was calculated as:
Σ
=
−
− +
=
t
t
add
add t t cBPOP cBPOP
t
MSE
1975
( )2
( 1975) 1
1
and the mean-squared error of the predictions from the compensatory model were calculated in a similar manner.
The model weights for the additive and compensatory model were calculated from their relative mean-squared
errors. The model weight for the additive model ( add W ) was calculated as:
add comp
add
add
MSE MSE
W MSE
1 1
1
+
= .
The model weight for the compensatory model was found in a corresponding manner, or by subtracting the
additive model weight from 1.0. As of 2007, the compensatory model did not fit the historic data as well as the
additive model; the model weights were 0.597 for the additive model and 0.403 for the compensatory model,
unchanged from 2006. The 2007 average model calls for a strategy that is intermediate between the additive and
compensatory models (Fig. 9).
27
Fig. 9. State-dependent harvest strategy for northern pintails with (A) additive, (B)
compensatory, and (C) 2007 weighted models. In each case the strategy assumes that
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Average Latitude of the BPOP
Closed
Restrictive
Liberal (1 -bird)
Liberal (3 -birds)
L2
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Average Latitude of the BPOP
Closed
Restrictive
Liberal (1 -bird)
Liberal (3 -birds)
L2
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Average Latitude of the BPOP
Pintail BPOP (millions)
Closed
Restrictive
Liberal (1 -bird)
Liberal (3 -birds)
L2
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
(A) Additive Model
(B) Compensatory Model
(C) 2006 Weighted Model
22000076 28
the general duck hunting season is that prescribed under the liberal regulatory alternative.
Scaup
In 2007, the USFWS proposed an assessment and decision-making framework to inform scaup harvest
management (Boomer and Johnson 2007). This framework was not adopted, partly in response to concerns raised
by the waterfowl management community that argued for a delay in implementation to facilitate the discussion of
the outstanding technical and policy issues relating to the proposed scaup decision-making framework. In
response to this call for increased communication, the USFWS addressed a wide range of questions and concerns
regarding the proposed strategy at the 2007 AHM working group meeting. A key outcome of this meeting was
the recommendation of the AHM working group for the USFWS to develop an alternative model that would
capture the belief that the scaup population will continue to decline to some lower equilibrium level in response to
a declining carrying capacity and that harvest at current levels will be completely compensatory. As a result, the
USFWS agreed to consider the development of this alternative model.
To further our communication efforts with the Flyways, we outlined methods to facilitate the specification of
regulatory alternatives for scaup harvest management (Boomer et al. 2007). We proposed harvest thresholds to be
considered under regulatory packages based on a simulation of an optimal policy that was derived under an
objective to achieve 95% of the long term cumulative harvest. We used an objective of 95% because it results in
a strategy less sensitive to small change in population size as compared to a strategy derived under an objective to
achieve 100% of long term cumulative harvest. In addition, the 95% objective allows for some harvest
opportunity at relatively low population sizes. We have continued to work with the Flyways to determine what
regulations would achieve the allowable harvest thresholds set forth in the scoping document (Boomer et al.
2007). Decisions regarding Flyway specific regulations will be discussed and finalized during this year’s late
season regulations meetings.
This year, the USFWS Migratory Bird Regulations Committee decided to implement the scaup decision-making
framework as proposed in 2007, while also supporting the development of an alternative model.
The lack of scaup demographic information over a sufficient timeframe and at a continental scale precludes the
use of a traditional balance equation to represent scaup population and harvest dynamics. As a result, we used a
discrete-time, stochastic, logistic-growth population model to represent changes in scaup abundance, while
explicitly accounting for scaling issues associated with the monitoring data. Details describing the modeling and
assessment framework that has been developed for scaup can be found in Appendix 6.
We updated the scaup assessment based on the current model formulation and data extending from 1974 through
2007. As in past analyses, the state space formulation and Bayesian analysis framework provided reasonable fits
to the observed breeding population and total harvest estimates with realistic measures of variation. The posterior
mean estimate of the intrinsic rate of increase (r) is 0.101 while the posterior mean estimate of the carrying
capacity (K) is 8.38 million birds. The posterior mean estimate of the scaling parameter (q) is 0.537, ranging
between 0.464 and 0.620 with 95% probability.
We calculated an optimal regulatory strategy for scaup harvest management based on: (1) a control variable of
total harvest (U.S. and Canada combined), (2) current population model and updated parameter estimates, and (3)
an objective to achieve 95% of the long-term cumulative harvest. We simulated the use of this regulatory strategy
to determine expected performance characteristics. Assuming that harvest management adhered to this strategy
29
(and that current model parameters accurately reflect population dynamics), breeding-population size would be
expected to average 4.59 million (SD = 0.87 million). Based on an estimated breeding population size of 3.74
million scaup, the optimal harvest level for scaup is 200 thousand (Table 11). Based on the harvest thresholds
specified in the scoping document, this year’s optimal harvest would correspond to the restrictive regulatory
alternative.
The USFWS intends to continue to work with the Flyways to determine acceptable harvest-management
objectives and regulatory alternatives to be used in the decision-making framework for scaup harvest
management. Ultimately, we would like to work towards the establishment of scaup regulatory alternatives to be
finalized during next year’s early season regulations process. Through collaboration with the Flyways, we will
continue to develop predicted harvest distributions associated with each Flyway’s regulatory alternatives so that
these predictions will then form a basis to specify a set of regulatory packages as the control variable to be used in
the derivation of next year’s optimal regulatory alternative. Moreover, the USFWS will work toward continued
collaboration with the waterfowl management community as we move forward with the development of an
alternative model to predict scaup population dynamics.
Table 11. Optimal scaup harvest levels (observed scale in
millions) and corresponding breeding population sizes (in
millions). This strategy is based on the current scaup population
model, and an objective to maximize 95% of long-term
cumulative harvest. The shaded cell indicates the optimal
harvest level for 2008.
BPOP Optimal Harvest
1.0 – 1.9 0
2.0 – 2.5 0.05
2.6 – 3.0 0.1
3.1 – 3.3 0.15
3.4 – 3.8 0.2
3.9 – 4.1 0.25
4.2 – 4.4 0.3
4.5 – 4.8 0.35
4.9 – 5.1 0.4
30
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33
APPENDIX 1: AHM Working Group
(Note: This list includes only permanent members of the AHM Working Group. Not listed here are numerous
persons from federal and state agencies that assist the Working Group on an ad-hoc basis.)
Coordinator:
Mark Koneff
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
11510 American Holly Drive
Laurel, Maryland 20708-4017
phone: 301-497-5648
fax: 301-497-5871
e-mail: mark_koneff@fws.gov
USFWS Representatives:
Bob Blohm (Region 9)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 N Fairfax Drive
MS MSP-4107
Arlington, VA 22203
phone: 703-358-1966
fax: 703-358-2272
e-mail: robert_blohm@fws.gov
Brad Bortner (Region 1)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
911 NE 11th Ave.
Portland, OR 97232-4181
phone: 503-231-6164
fax: 503-231-2364
e-mail: brad_bortner@fws.gov
Dave Case (contractor)
D.J. Case & Associates
607 Lincolnway West
Mishawaka, IN 46544
phone: 574-258-0100
fax: 574-258-0189
e-mail: dave@djcase.com
Jim Dubovsky (Region 6)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
P.O. Box 25486-DFC
Denver, CO 80225-0486
phone: 303-236-4403
fax: 303-236-8680
e-mail:james_dubovsky@fws.gov
Diane Pence (Region 5)
Jeff Haskins (Region 2)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
P.O. Box 1306
Albuquerque, NM 87103
phone: 505-248-6827 (ext 30)
fax: 505-248-7885
e-mail: jeff_haskins@fws.gov
Jim Kelley (Region 9)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1 Federal Drive
Fort Snelling, MN 55111-0458
phone: 612-713-5409
fax: 612-713-5393
e-mail: james_r_kelley@fws.gov
Sean Kelly (Region 3)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1 Federal Drive
Ft. Snelling, MN 55111-4056
phone: 612-713-5470
fax: 612-713-5393
e-mail: sean_kelly@fws.gov
Paul Padding (Region 9)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
11510 American Holly Drive
Laurel, MD 20708
phone: 301-497-5851
fax: 301-497-5885
e-mail: paul_padding@fws.gov
Bob Trost (Region 9)
34
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
300 Westgate Center Drive
Hadley, MA 01035-9589
phone: 413-253-8577
fax: 413-253-8424
e-mail: diane_pence@fws.gov
Russ Oates (Region 7)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1011 East Tudor Road
Anchorage, AK 99503-6119
phone: 907-786-3446
fax: 907-786-3641
e-mail: russ_oates@fws.gov
Dave Sharp (Region 9)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
P.O. Box 25486, DFC
Denver, CO 80225-0486
phone: 303-275-2386
fax: 303-275-2384
e-mail: dave_sharp@fws.gov
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
911 NE 11th Ave.
Portland, OR 97232-4181
phone: 503-231-6162
fax: 503-231-6228
e-mail: robert_trost@fws.gov
David Viker (Region 4)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1875 Century Blvd., Suite 345
Atlanta, GA 30345
phone: 404-679-7188
fax: 404-679-7285
e-mail: david_viker@fws.gov
Canadian Wildlife Service Representatives:
Dale Caswell
Canadian Wildlife Service
123 Main St. Suite 150
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3C 4W2
phone: 204-983-5260
fax: 204-983-5248
e-mail: dale.caswell@ec.gc.ca
Eric Reed
Canadian Wildlife Service
351 St. Joseph Boulevard
Hull, QC K1A OH3, Canada
phone: 819-953-0294
fax: 819-953-6283
e-mail: eric.reed@ec.gc.ca
Flyway Council Representatives:
Min Huang (Atlantic Flyway)
CT Dept. of Environmental Protection
Franklin Wildlife Mgmt. Area
391 Route 32
North Franklin, CT 06254, USA
Phone: 860/642-6528
fax: 860/642-7964
e-mail: min.huang@po.state.ct.us
Mike Johnson (Central Flyway)
North Dakota Game and Fish Department
100 North Bismarck Expressway
Bismarck, ND 58501-5095
phone: 701-328-6319
fax: 701-328-6352
e-mail: mjohnson@state.nd.us
Bryan Swift (Atlantic Flyway)
Dept. Environmental Conservation
Larry Reynolds (Mississippi Flyway)
LA Dept. of Wildlife & Fisheries
PO Box 98000
Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000, USA
Phone: 225/765-0456
Fax: 225/763-5456
e-mail: lreynolds@wlf.state.la.us
Jon Runge (Pacific Flyway)
Colorado Division of Wildlife
317 W. Prospect
Fort Collins, CO 80526
Phone: 970-472-4365
e-mail: Jon.Runge@state.co.us
Dan Yparraguirre (Pacific Flyway)
California Dept. of Fish and Game
35
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-4754
phone: 518-402-8866
fax: 518-402-9027 or 402-8925
e-mail: blswift@gw.dec.state.ny.us
Mark Vrtiska (Central Flyway)
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
P.O. Box 30370
2200 North 33rd Street
Lincoln, NE 68503-1417
phone: 402-471-5437
fax: 402-471-5528
email: mvrtiska@ngpc.state.ne.us
1812 Ninth Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
phone: 916-445-3685
e-mail: dyparraguirre@dfg.ca.gov
Guy Zenner (Mississippi Flyway)
Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources
1203 North Shore Drive
Clear Lake, IA 50428
phone: 515-357-3517, ext. 23
fax: 515-357-5523
e-mail: gzenner@netins.net
36
APPENDIX 2: Mid-continent Mallard Models
In 1995, we developed population models to predict changes in midcontinent mallards based on the traditional
survey area which includes individuals from Alaska (Johnson et al. 1997). In 1997, we added mallards from the
Great Lakes region (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) to the mid-continent mallard stock, assuming their
population dynamics were equivalent. In 2002, we made extensive revisions to the set of alternative models
describing the population dynamics of mid-continent mallards (Runge et al. 2002, USFWS 2002). This year we
have redefined the population of mid-continent mallards to account for the removal of Alaskan birds (WBPHS
strata 1–12) that are now considered to be in the western mallard stock and have subsequently rescaled the model
set appropriately.
Model Structure
Collectively, the models express uncertainty (or disagreement) about whether harvest is an additive or
compensatory form of mortality (Burnham et al. 1984), and whether the reproductive process is weakly or
strongly density-dependent (i.e., the degree to which reproductive rates decline with increasing population size).
All population models for mid-continent mallards share a common “balance equation” to predict changes in
breeding-population size as a function of annual survival and reproductive rates:
Nt Nt (mSt AM ( m)(St AF Rt (St JF St JM F )))
sum
M
sum
+ = + − + + 1 , 1 , , , φ φ
where:
N = breeding population size,
m = proportion of males in the breeding population,
SAM, SAF, SJF, and SJM = survival rates of adult males, adult females, young females, and young males, respectively,
R = reproductive rate, defined as the fall age ratio of females,
φ F φ
sum
M
sum
= the ratio of female (F) to male (M) summer survival, and
t = year.
We assumed that m and φ F φ
sum
M
sum are fixed and known. We also assumed, based in part on information provided by
Blohm et al. (1987), the ratio of female to male summer survival was equivalent to the ratio of annual survival
rates in the absence of harvest. Based on this assumption, we estimated φ F φ
sum
M
sum = 0.897. To estimate m we
expressed the balance equation in matrix form:
N
N
S RS
S RS
N
N
t AM
t AF
AM JM F
sum
M
sum
AF JF
t AM
t AF
+
+
⎡
⎣ ⎢
⎤
⎦ ⎥
=
+
⎡
⎣ ⎢
⎤
⎦ ⎥
⎡
⎣ ⎢
⎤
⎦ ⎥
1
1 0
,
,
,
,
φ φ
and substituted the constant ratio of summer survival and means of estimated survival and reproductive rates. The
right eigenvector of the transition matrix is the stable sex structure that the breeding population eventually would
attain with these constant demographic rates. This eigenvector yielded an estimate of m = 0.5246.
Using estimates of annual survival and reproductive rates, the balance equation for mid-continent mallards over-predicted
observed population sizes by 11.0% on average. The source of the bias is unknown, so we modified the
balance equation to eliminate the bias by adjusting both survival and reproductive rates:
37
Nt S Nt (mSt AM ( m)(St AF RRt (St JF St JM F )))
sum
M
sum
+ 1 = γ , + 1 − , + γ , + , φ φ
where γ denotes the bias-correction factors for survival (S) and reproduction (R). We used a least squares
approach to estimate γS = 0.9407 and γR = 0.8647.
Survival Process
We considered two alternative hypotheses for the relationship between annual survival and harvest rates. For
both models, we assumed that survival in the absence of harvest was the same for adults and young of the same
sex. In the model where harvest mortality is additive to natural mortality:
St sex age s sex ( K )
A
, , , t ,sex,age = − 0 1
and in the model where changes in natural mortality compensate for harvest losses (up to some threshold):
S
s if K s
t sex age K if K s
sex
C
t sex age sex
C
t sex age t sex age sex
, , C
, ,, ,
, , , , ,
=
≤ −
− > −
⎧⎨ ⎪
⎩⎪
0 0
0
1
1 1
where s0 = survival in the absence of harvest under the additive (A) or compensatory (C) model, and K = harvest
rate adjusted for crippling loss (20%, Anderson and Burnham 1976). We averaged estimates of s0 across banding
reference areas by weighting by breeding-population size. For the additive model, s0 = 0.7896 and 0.6886 for
males and females, respectively. For the compensatory model, s0 = 0.6467 and 0.5965 for males and females,
respectively. These estimates may seem counterintuitive because survival in the absence of harvest should be the
same for both models. However, estimating a common (but still sex-specific) s0 for both models leads to
alternative models that do not fit available band-recovery data equally well. More importantly, it suggests that the
greatest uncertainty about survival rates is when harvest rate is within the realm of experience. By allowing s0 to
differ between additive and compensatory models, we acknowledge that the greatest uncertainty about survival
rate is its value in the absence of harvest (i.e., where we have no experience).
Reproductive Process
Annual reproductive rates were estimated from age ratios in the harvest of females, corrected using a constant
estimate of differential vulnerability. Predictor variables were the number of ponds in May in Prairie Canada (P,
in millions) and the size of the breeding population (N, in millions). We estimated the best-fitting linear model,
and then calculated the 80% confidence ellipsoid for all model parameters. We chose the two points on this
ellipsoid with the largest and smallest values for the effect of breeding-population size, and generated a weakly
density-dependent model:
Rt = 0.7166 + 0.1083Pt − 0.0373Nt
and a strongly density-dependent model:
Rt = 1.1390 + 0.1376Pt − 0.1131Nt
Predicted recruitment was then rescaled to reflect the current definition of mid-continent mallards which now
excludes birds from Alaska but includes mallards observed in the Great Lakes region.
38
Pond Dynamics
We modeled annual variation in Canadian pond numbers as a first-order autoregressive process. The estimated
model was:
Pt + Pt t = + + 1 2.2127 0.3420 ε
where ponds are in millions and εt
is normally distributed with mean = 0 and variance = 1.2567.
Variance of Prediction Errors
Using the balance equation and sub-models described above, predictions of breeding-population size in year t+1
depend only on specification of population size, pond numbers, and harvest rate in year t. For the period in which
comparisons were possible, we compared these predictions with observed population sizes.
We estimated the prediction-error variance by setting:
( ) ( )
( )
[ ( ) ( )] ( )
e N N
e N
N N n
t t
obs
t
pre
t
t
obs
t
pre
t
= −
= Σ − −
ln ln
~ ,
$ ln ln
then assuming
and estimating
0
1
σ 2
σ 2 2
where obs and pre are observed and predicted population sizes (in millions), respectively, and n = the number of
years being compared. We were concerned about a variance estimate that was too small, either by chance or
because the number of years in which comparisons were possible was small. Therefore, we calculated the upper
80% confidence limit for σ2 based on a Chi-squared distribution for each combination of the alternative survival
and reproductive sub-models, and then averaged them. The final estimate of σ2 was 0.0280, equivalent to a
coefficient of variation of about 18%.
Model Implications
The population model with additive hunting mortality and weakly density-dependent recruitment (SaRw) leads to
the most conservative harvest strategy, whereas the model with compensatory hunting mortality and strongly
density-dependent recruitment (ScRs) leads to the most liberal strategy. The other two models (SaRs and ScRw)
lead to strategies that are intermediate between these extremes. Under the models with compensatory hunting
mortality (ScRs and ScRw), the optimal strategy is to have a liberal regulation regardless of population size or
number of ponds because at harvest rates achieved under the liberal alternative, harvest has no effect on
population size. Under the strongly density-dependent model (ScRs), the density-dependence regulates the
population and keeps it within narrow bounds. Under the weakly density-dependent model (ScRw), the density-dependence
does not exert as strong a regulatory effect, and the population size fluctuates more.
Model Weights
Model weights are calculated as Bayesian probabilities, reflecting the relative ability of the individual alternative
models to predict observed changes in population size. The Bayesian probability for each model is a function of
the model’s previous (or prior) weight and the likelihood of the observed population size under that model. We
used Bayes’ theorem to calculate model weights from a comparison of predicted and observed population sizes
for the years 1996–2008, starting with equal model weights in 1995.
39
APPENDIX 3: Eastern Mallard Models
Model Structure
We also revised the population models for eastern mallards in 2002 (Johnson et al. 2002a, USFWS 2002). The
current set of six models: (1) relies solely on federal and state waterfowl surveys (rather than the Breeding Bird
Survey) to estimate abundance; (2) allows for the possibility of a positive bias in estimates of survival or
reproductive rates; (3) incorporates competing hypotheses of strongly and weakly density-dependent
reproduction; and (4) assumes that hunting mortality is additive to other sources of mortality.
As with mid-continent mallards, all population models for eastern mallards share a common balance equation to
predict changes in breeding-population size as a function of annual survival and reproductive rates:
Nt Nt ((p St ) (( p) S ) (p (A d) S ) (p (A d) S ))
am
t
af
t
m
t
ym
t
m
t
yf
+ = ⋅ ⋅ + − ⋅ + ⋅ ⋅ + ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 1 1 ψ
where:
N = breeding-population size,
p = proportion of males in the breeding population,
Sam, Saf, Sym, and Syf = survival rates of adult males, adult females, young males, and young females, respectively,
Am = ratio of young males to adult males in the harvest,
d = ratio of young male to adult male direct recovery rates,
ψ = the ratio of male to female summer survival, and t = year.
In this balance equation, we assume that p, d, and ψ are fixed and known. The parameter ψ is necessary to
account for the difference in anniversary date between the breeding-population survey (May) and the survival and
reproductive rate estimates (August). This model also assumes that the sex ratio of fledged young is 1:1; hence
Am/d appears twice in the balance equation. We estimated d = 1.043 as the median ratio of young:adult male
band-recovery rates in those states from which wing receipts were obtained. We estimated ψ = 1.216 by
regressing through the origin estimates of male survival against female survival in the absence of harvest,
assuming that differences in natural mortality between males and females occur principally in summer. To
estimate p, we used a population projection matrix of the form:
( )
( ) ⎥⎦
⎤
⎢⎣
⎡
⋅ ⎥⎦
⎤
⎢⎣
⎡
⋅ ⋅
+ ⋅
= ⎥⎦
⎤
⎢⎣
⎡
+
+
t
t
m yf af
am m ym
t
t
F
M
A d S S
S A d S
F
M
ψ
0
1
1
where M and F are the relative number of males and females in the breeding populations, respectively. To
parameterize the projection matrix we used average annual survival rate and age ratio estimates, and the estimates
of d and ψ provided above. The right eigenvector of the projection matrix is the stable proportion of males and
females the breeding population eventually would attain in the face of constant demographic rates. This
eigenvector yielded an estimate of p = 0.544.
We also attempted to determine whether estimates of survival and reproductive rates were unbiased. We relied on
the balance equation provided above, except that we included additional parameters to correct for any bias that
might exist. Because we were unsure of the source(s) of potential bias, we alternatively assumed that any bias
resided solely in survival rates:
Nt Nt ((p St ) (( p) S ) (p (A d) S ) (p (A d) S ))
am
t
af
t
m
t
ym
t
m
t
yf
+ = ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ + − ⋅ + ⋅ ⋅ + ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 1 Ω 1 ψ
40
(where Ω is the bias-correction factor for survival rates), or solely in reproductive rates:
Nt Nt ((p St ) (( p) S ) (p (A d) S ) (p (A d) S ))
am
t
af
t
m
t
ym
t
m
t
yf
+ = ⋅ ⋅ + − ⋅ + ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ + ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ 1 1 α α ψ
(where α is the bias-correction factor for reproductive rates). We estimated Ω and α by determining the values of
these parameters that minimized the sum of squared differences between observed and predicted population sizes.
Based on this analysis, Ω = 0.836 and α = 0.701, suggesting a positive bias in survival or reproductive rates.
However, because of the limited number of years available for comparing observed and predicted population
sizes, we also retained the balance equation that assumes estimates of survival and reproductive rates are
unbiased.
Survival Process
For purposes of AHM, annual survival rates must be predicted based on the specification of regulation-specific
harvest rates (and perhaps on other uncontrolled factors). Annual survival for each age (i) and sex (j) class under
a given regulatory alternative is:
( )
( ) S
h v
c t
i j j t
am i j
,
,
= ⋅ −
⋅
−
⎛
⎝
⎜⎜
⎞
⎠
⎟⎟
θ 1
1
where:
S = annual survival,
θ j = mean survival from natural causes,
ham = harvest rate of adult males, and
v = harvest vulnerability relative to adult males,
c = rate of crippling (unretrieved harvest).
This model assumes that annual variation in survival is due solely to variation in harvest rates, that relative
harvest vulnerability of the different age-sex classes is fixed and known, and that survival from natural causes is
fixed at its sample mean. We estimated θ j = 0.7307 and 0.5950 for males and females, respectively.
Reproductive process
As with survival, annual reproductive rates must be predicted in advance of setting regulations. We relied on the
apparent relationship between breeding-population size and reproductive rates:
Rt = a ⋅ exp(b ⋅ Nt )
where Rt is the reproductive rate (i.e., Am d
t ), Nt is breeding-population size in millions, and a and b are model
parameters. The least-squares parameter estimates were a = 2.508 and b = -0.875. Because of both the
importance and uncertainty of the relationship between population size and reproduction, we specified two
alternative models in which the slope (b) was fixed at the least-squares estimate ± one standard error, and in
which the intercepts (a) were subsequently re-estimated. This provided alternative hypotheses of strongly
density-dependent (a = 4.154, b = -1.377) and weakly density-dependent reproduction (a = 1.518, b = -0.373).
41
Variance of Prediction Errors
Using the balance equations and sub-models provided above, predictions of breeding-population size in year t+1
depend only on the specification of a regulatory alternative and on an estimate of population size in year t. For
the period in which comparisons were possible (1991–96), we were interested in how well these predictions
corresponded with observed population sizes. In making these comparisons, we were primarily concerned with
how well the bias-corrected balance equations and reproductive and survival sub-models performed. Therefore,
we relied on estimates of harvest rates rather than regulations as model inputs.
We estimated the prediction-error variance by setting:
( ) ( )
( )
[ ( ) ( )]
e N N
e N
N N n
t t
obs
t
pre
t
t
obs
t
pre
t
= −
= Σ −
ln ln
~ ,
$ ln ln
then assuming
and estimating
0 σ 2
σ 2 2
where obs and pre are observed and predicted population sizes (in millions), respectively, and n = 6.
Variance estimates were similar regardless of whether we assumed that the bias was in reproductive rates or in
survival, or whether we assumed that reproduction was strongly or weakly density-dependent. Thus, we averaged
variance estimates to provide a final estimate of σ2 = 0.006, which is equivalent to a coefficient of variation (CV)
of 8.0%. We were concerned, however, about the small number of years available for estimating this variance.
Therefore, we estimated an 80% confidence interval for σ2 based on a Chi-squared distribution and used the upper
limit for σ2 = 0.018 (i.e., CV = 14.5%) to express the additional uncertainty about the magnitude of prediction
errors attributable to potentially important environmental effects not expressed by the models.
Model Implications
Model-specific regulatory strategies based on the hypothesis of weakly density-dependent reproduction are
considerably more conservative than those based on the hypothesis of strongly density-dependent reproduction.
The three models with weakly density-dependent reproduction suggest a carrying capacity (i.e., average
population size in the absence of harvest) >2.0 million mallards, and prescribe extremely restrictive regulations
for population size <1.0 million. The three models with strongly density-dependent reproduction suggest a
carrying capacity of about 1.5 million mallards, and prescribe liberal regulations for population sizes >300
thousand. Optimal regulatory strategies are relatively insensitive to whether models include a bias correction or
not. All model-specific regulatory strategies are “knife-edged,” meaning that large differences in the optimal
regulatory choice can be precipitated by only small changes in breeding-population size. This result is at least
partially due to the small differences in predicted harvest rates among the current regulatory alternatives (see the
section on Regulatory Alternatives later in this report).
Model Weights
We used Bayes’ theorem to calculate model weights from a comparison of predicted and observed population
sizes for the years 1996–2008. We calculated weights for the alternative models based on an assumption of equal
model weights in 1996 (the last year data was used to develop most model components) and on estimates of year-specific
harvest rates (Appendix 5).
42
APPENDIX 4: Western Mallard Models
In contrast to mid-continent and eastern mallards, we did not model changes in population size of western
mallards as an explicit function of survival and reproductive rate estimates (which in turn may be functions of
harvest and environmental covariates). We believed this so-called “balance-equation approach” was not viable
for western mallards because of insufficient banding in Alaska to estimate survival rates, and because of the
difficulty in estimating stock-specific fall age ratios from a sample of wings derived from a mix of breeding
stocks. We therefore relied on a discrete logistic model (Schaefer 1954), which combines reproduction and
natural mortality into a single parameter r, the intrinsic rate of growth. The model assumes density-dependent
growth, which is regulated by the ratio of population size, N, to the carrying capacity of the environment, K (i.e.,
equilibrium population size in the absence of harvest). In the traditional formulation, harvest mortality is additive
to other sources of mortality, but compensation for hunting losses can occur through subsequent increases in
production. However, we parameterized the model in a way that also allows for compensation of harvest
mortality between the hunting and breeding seasons. It is important to note that compensation modeled in this
way is purely phenomenological, in the sense that there is no explicit ecological mechanism for compensation
(e.g., density-dependent mortality after the hunting season).
The basic model for both the Alaska and California/Oregon stocks had the form:
and where t = year, hAM = the harvest rate of adult males, and d = a scaling factor. The scaling factor is used to
account for a combination of unobservable effects, including un-retrieved harvest (i.e., crippling loss), differential
harvest mortality of cohorts other than adult males, and for the possibility that some harvest mortality may not
affect subsequent breeding-population size (i.e., the compensatory mortality hypothesis).
Estimation Framework
We used Bayesian estimation methods in combination with a state-space model that accounts explicitly for both
process and observation error in breeding population size. This combination of methods is becoming widely used
in natural resource modeling, in part because it facilitates the fitting of non-linear models that may have non-normal
errors (Meyer and Millar 1999). The Bayesian approach also provides a natural and intuitive way to
portray uncertainty, allows one to incorporate prior information about model parameters, and permits the updating
of parameter estimates as further information becomes available.
We first scaled N by K as recommended by Meyer and Millar (1999), and assumed that process errors et were log-normally
distributed with mean 0 and variance σ2. Thus, the process model had the form:
The observation model related the unknown population sizes (PtK) to the population sizes (Nt) estimated from the
breeding-population surveys in Alaska and California-Oregon. We assumed that the observation process yielded
additive, normally distributed errors, which were represented by:
( )
AM
t t
t
t
t t t
where d h
K
N N N r N
= ⋅
− ⎥⎦
⎤
⎢⎣
⎡
⎟⎠
⎞
⎜⎝
= + ⎛ − +
α
1 1 α 1
( ) {[ ( )]( )}
( 2 )
1 1 1 1
~ 0,
log log 1 1
where e N σ
P P P r P d h e
P N K
t
t
AM
t t t t t
t t t
= + − − ⋅ +
=
− − − −
43
BPOP
t t t N = PK +ε ,
~ (0, 2 )
BPOP
BPOP
t where ε N σ .
Use of the observation model allowed us to account for the sampling error in population estimates, while
permitting us to estimate the process error, which reflects the inability of the model to completely describe
changes in population size. The process error reflects the combined effect of misspecification of an appropriate
model form, as well as any un-modeled environmental drivers. We initially examined a number of possible
environmental covariates, including the Palmer Drought Index in California and Oregon, spring temperature in
Alaska, and the El Niño Southern Oscillation Index
(http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/people/klaus.wolter/MEI/mei.html). While the estimated effects of these covariates on
r or K were generally what one would expect, they were never of sufficient magnitude to have a meaningful effect
on optimal harvest strategies. We therefore chose not to further pursue an investigation of environmental
covariates, and posited that the process error was a sufficient surrogate for these un-modeled effects.
Parameterization of the models also required measures of harvest rate. Beginning in 2002, harvest rates of adult
males were estimated directly from the recovery of reward bands. Prior to 1993, we used direct recoveries of
standard bands, corrected for band-reporting rates provided by Nichols et al. (1995b). We also used the band-reporting
rates provided by Nichols et al. (1995b) for estimating harvest rates in 1994 and 1995, except that we
inflated the reporting rates of full-address and toll-free bands based on an unpublished analysis by Clint Moore
and Jim Nichols (Patuxent Wildlife Research Center). We were unwilling to estimate harvest rates for the years
1996–2001 because of suspected, but unknown, increases in the reporting rates of all bands. For simplicity,
harvest rate estimates were treated as known values in our analysis, although future analyses might benefit from
an appropriate observation model for these data.
In a Bayesian analysis, one is interested in making probabilistic statements about the model parameters (θ),
conditioned on the observed data. Thus, we are interested in evaluating P(θ|data), which requires the specification
of prior distributions for all model parameters and unobserved system states (θ) and the sampling distribution
(likelihood) of the observed data P(data| θ). Using Bayes theorem, we can represent the posterior probability
distribution of model parameters, conditioned on the data, as:
P(θ | data) ∝ P(θ )× P(data |θ ) .
Accordingly, we specified prior distributions for model parameters r, K, d, and P0, which is the initial population
size relative to carrying capacity. For both stocks, we specified the following prior distributions for r, d, and σ2:
( )
( )
~ (0.001, 0.001)
~ 0, 2
~ 1.0397, 1.4427
2 Inverse gamma
d Uniform
r Log normal
−
− −
σ
The prior distribution for r is centered at 0.35, which we believe to be a reasonable value for mallards based on
life-history characteristics and estimates for other avian species. Yet the distribution also admits considerable
uncertainty as to the value of r within what we believe to be realistic biological bounds. As for the harvest-rate
scalar, we would expect d ≥ 1 under the additive hypothesis and d < 1 under the compensatory hypothesis. As we
had no data to specify an informative prior distribution, we specified a vague prior in which d could take on a
wide range of values with equal probability. We used a traditional, uninformative prior distribution for σ2. Prior
distributions for K and P0 were stock-specific and are described in the following sections.
44
We used the public-domain software WinBUGS (http://www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/bugs/) to derive samples from
the joint posterior distribution of model parameters via Markov-Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations. We
obtained 510,000 samples from the joint posterior distribution, discarded the first 10,000, and then thinned the
remainder by 50, resulting in a final sample of 10,000.
Alaska mallards
Data selection.--Breeding population estimates of mallards in Alaska (and the Old Crow Flats in Yukon) are
available since 1955 in WBPHS strata 1–12 (Smith 1995). However, a change in survey aircraft in 1977
instantaneously increased the detectability of waterfowl, and thus population estimates (Hodges et al. 1996).
Moreover, there was a rapid increase in average annual temperature in Alaska at the same time, apparently tied to
changes in the frequency and intensity of El Niño events
(http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/people/klaus.wolter/MEI/mei.html). This confounding of changes in climate and
survey methods led us to truncate the years 1955–1977 from the time series of population estimates.
Modeling of the Alaska stock also depended on the availability of harvest-rate estimates derived from band-recovery
data. Unfortunately, sufficient numbers of mallards were not banded in Alaska prior to 1990. A search
for covariates that would have allowed us to make harvest-rate predictions for years in which band-recovery data
were not available was not fruitful, and we were thus forced to further restrict the time-series to 1990–2005. Even
so, harvest rate estimates were not available for the years 1996–2001 because of unknown changes in band-reporting
rates. Because available estimates of harvest rate showed no apparent variation over time, we simply
used the mean and standard deviation of the available estimates and generated independent samples of predictions
for the missing years based on a logit transformation and an assumption of normality:
~ ( 2.3265, 0.0830) 1996 2001
1
ln − = − ⎟ ⎟⎠
⎞
⎜ ⎜⎝
⎛
−
Normal for t
h
h
t
t
Prior distributions for K and P0.—We believed that sufficient information was available to use mildly informative
priors for K and P0. In recent years the Alaska stock has contained approximately 0.8 million mallards. If harvest
rates have been comparable to that necessary to achieve maximum sustained yield (MSY) under the logistic
model (i.e., r/2), then we would expect K ≈ 1.6 million. On the other hand, if harvest rates have been less than
those associated with MSY, then we would expect K < 1.6 million. Because we believed it was not likely that
harvest rates were >r/2, we believed the likely range of K to be 0.8–1.6 million. We therefore specified a prior
distribution that had a mean of 1.4 million, but had a sufficiently large variance to admit a wide range of possible
values:
K ~ Log − normal(0.13035, 0.41224)
Extending this line of reasoning, we specified a prior distribution that assumed the estimated population size of
approximately 0.4 million at the start of the time-series (i.e., 1990) was 20–60% of K. Thus on a log scale:
P ~ Uniform(−1.6094, − 0.5108) o
Parameter estimates.—The logistic model and associated posterior parameter estimates provided a reasonable fit
to the observed time-series of population estimates. The posterior means of K and r were similar to their priors,
although their variances were considerably smaller (albeit still large) (Table a). However, the posterior
distribution of d was essentially the same as its prior, reflecting the absence of information in the data necessary to
reliably estimate this parameter.
Estimates of model parameters resulting from fitting a discrete logistic model with MCMC to a time-series of
45
estimated population sizes and harvest rates of mallards breeding in Alaska, 1990–2007.
Parameter Mean SD 95% credibility interval
K 1.192 0.306 0.708–1.860
P0 0.319 0.088 0.205–0.535
d 1.004 0.544 0.070–1.933
r 0.315 0.129 0.099–0.597
σ2 0.021 0.013 0.005–0.055
California-Oregon mallards
Data selection.—Breeding-population estimates of mallards in California are available starting in 1992, but not
until 1994 in Oregon. Also, Oregon did not conduct a survey in 2001. In order to avoid truncating the time-series,
we used the admittedly weak relationship (P = 0.18) between California and Oregon population estimates
to predict population sizes in Oregon in 1992, 1993, and 2001. The fitted linear model was:
( CA )
t
OR
t N = 80033 + 0.0734 N
To derive realistic standard errors, we assumed that the predictions had the same mean coefficient of variation as
the years when surveys were conducted (n = 13, CV = 0.082). The estimated sizes and variances of the
California-Oregon stock were calculated by simply summing the state-specific estimates.
We pooled banding and recovery data for California and Oregon and estimated harvest rates in the same manner
as that for Alaska mallards. Although banded sample sizes were sufficient in all years, harvest rates could not be
estimated for the years 1996–2001 because of unknown changes in band-reporting rates. As with Alaska,
available estimates of harvest rate showed no apparent trend over time, and we simply used the mean and standard
deviation of the available estimates and generated independent samples of predictions for the missing years based
on a logit transformation and an assumption of normality:
~ ( 1.9844, 0.0351) 1996 2001
1
ln − = − ⎟ ⎟⎠
⎞
⎜ ⎜⎝
⎛
−
Normal for t
h
h
t
t
Prior distributions for K and P0.— Unlike the Alaska stock, the California-Oregon population has been relatively
stable with a mean of 0.48 million mallards. We believed K should be in the range 0.48 – 0.96 million, assuming
the logistic model and that harvest rates were ≤ r/2. We therefore specified a prior distribution on K that had a
mean of 0.7 million, but with a variance sufficiently large to admit a wide range of possible values:
K ~ Log − normal(− 0.5628, 0.41224)
The estimated size of the California-Oregon stock was 0.48 million at the start of the time-series (i.e., 1992). We
used a similar line of reasoning as that for Alaska for specifying a prior distribution P0, positing that initial
population size was 40–100% of K. Thus on a log scale:
P ~ Uniform(− 0.9163, 0.0) o
Parameter estimates.—The logistic model and associated posterior parameter estimates provided a reasonable fit
to the observed time-series of population estimates. The posterior means of K and r were similar to their priors,
although the variances were considerably smaller (albeit still large) (Table b). Interestingly, the posterior mean of
46
d was <1, suggestive of a compensatory response to harvest; however the standard deviation of the estimate was
large, with the upper 95% credibility limit >1.
Estimates of model parameters resulting from fitting a discrete logistic model with MCMC to a time-series of
estimated population sizes and harvest rates of mallards breeding in California and Oregon, 1992–2007.
Parameter Mean SD 95% credibility interval
K 0.662 0.169 0.452–1.081
P0 0.732 0.158 0.431–0.983
d 0.616 0.431 0.034–1.649
r 0.357 0.224 0.074–0.919
σ2 0.014 0.012 0.002–0.045
APPENDIX 5: Modeling Mallard Harvest Rates
47
We modeled harvest rates of mid-continent mallards within a Bayesian hierarchical framework. We developed a
set of models to predict harvest rates under each regulatory alternative as a function of the harvest rates observed
under the liberal alternative, using historical information. We modeled the probability of regulation-specific
harvest rates (h) based on normal distributions with the following parameterizations:
Closed:
Restrictive:
Moderate:
Liberal:
p h N
p h N
p h N
p h N
C C C
R R L R
M M L f M
L L f L
( )~ ( , )
( )~ ( , )
( )~ ( , )
( )~ ( , )
μ ν
γ μ ν
γ μ δ ν
μ δ ν
2
2
2
2
+
+
For the restrictive and moderate alternatives we introduced the parameter γ to represent the relative difference
between the harvest rate observed under the liberal alternative and the moderate or restrictive alternatives. Based
on this parameterization, we are making use of the information that has been gained (under the liberal alternative)
and are modeling harvest rates for the restrictive and moderate alternatives as a function of the mean harvest rate
observed under the liberal alternative. For the harvest-rate distributions assumed under the restrictive and
moderate regulatory packages, we specified that γR and γM are equal to the prior estimates of the predicted mean
harvest rates under the restrictive and moderate alternatives divided by the prior estimates of the predicted mean
harvest rates observed under the liberal alternative. Thus, these parameters act to scale the mean of the restrictive
and moderate distributions in relation to the mean harvest rate observed under the liberal regulatory alternative.
We also considered the marginal effect of framework-date extensions under the moderate and liberal alternatives
by including the parameter δf.
In order to update the probability distributions of harvest rates realized under each regulatory alternative, we first
needed to specify a prior probability distribution for each of the model parameters. These distributions represent
prior beliefs regarding the relationship between each regulatory alternative and the expected harvest rates. We
used a normal distribution to represent the mean and a scaled inverse-chi-square distribution to represent the
variance of the normal distribution of the likelihood. For the mean (μ) of each harvest-rate distribution associated
with each regulatory alternative, we use the predicted mean harvest rates provided in USFWS (2000:13–14),
assuming uniformity of regulatory prescriptions across flyways. We set prior values of each standard deviation
(ν) equal to 20% of the mean (CV = 0.2) based on an analysis by Johnson et al. (1997). We then specified the
following prior distributions and parameter values under each regulatory package:
Closed (in U.S. only):
p N
p ScaledInv
C
C
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
μ
ν χ
0 0088 0 0018
6
6 0 0018
2
2 2 2
−
These closed-season parameter values are based on observed harvest rates in Canada during the 1988–93 seasons,
which was a period of restrictive regulations in both Canada and the United States.
For the restrictive and moderate alternatives, we specified that the standard error of the normal distribution of the
scaling parameter is based on a coefficient of variation for the mean equal to 0.3. The scale parameter of the
inverse-chi-square distribution was set equal to the standard deviation of the harvest rate mean under the
restrictive and moderate regulation alternatives (i.e., CV = 0.2).
Restrictive:
48
p N
p Scaled Inv
R
R
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
γ
ν χ
051 015
6
6 0 0133
2
2 2 2
−
Moderate:
p N
p ScaledInv
M
M
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
γ
ν χ
085 026
6
6 0 0223
2
2 2 2
−
Liberal:
p N
p ScaledInv
L
L
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
μ
ν χ
01305
0 0261
6
6 0 0261
2
2 2 2
−
The prior distribution for the marginal effect of the framework-date extension was specified as:
p( ) N( ) f δ
~ 0.02,0.012
The prior distributions were multiplied by the likelihood functions based on the last seven years of data under
liberal regulations, and the resulting posterior distributions were evaluated with Markov Chain Monte Carlo
simulation. Posterior estimates of model parameters and of annual harvest rates are provided in the following
table:
Parameter Estimate SD Parameter Estimate SD
μC 0.0088 0.0021 h1998 0.1019 0.0070
νC 0.0019 0.0005 h1999 0.0981 0.0072
γR 0.5110 0.0606 h2000 0.1249 0.0085
νR 0.0129 0.0032 h2001 0.0918 0.0088
γM 0.8452 0.1058 h2002 0.1051 0.0043
νM 0.0216 0.0055 h2003 0.1050 0.0052
μL 0.1093 0.0069 h2004 0.1150 0.0077
νL 0.0207 0.0039 h2005 0.1105 0.0071
δf 0.0060 0.0077 h2006 0.1023 0.0066
h2007 0.0930 0.0055
49
We modeled harvest rates of eastern mallards using the same parameterizations as those for mid-continent
mallards:
Closed:
Restrictive:
Moderate:
Liberal:
p h N
p h N
p h N
p h N
C C C
R R L R
M M L f M
L L f L
( )~ ( , )
( )~ ( , )
( )~ ( , )
( )~ ( , )
μ ν
γ μ ν
γ μ δ ν
μ δ ν
2
2
2
2
+
+
We set prior values of each standard deviation (ν) equal to 30% of the mean (CV = 0.3) to account for additional
variation due to changes in regulations in the other Flyways and their unpredictable effects on the harvest rates of
eastern mallards. We then specified the following prior distribution and parameter values for the liberal
regulatory alternative:
Liberal:
p N
p ScaledInv
L
L
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
μ
ν χ
01771
0 0531
6
6 0 0531
2
2 2 2
�����
Moderate:
p N
p ScaledInv
M
M
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
γ
ν χ
092
028
6
6 0 0488
2
2 2 2
−
Restrictive:
p N
p ScaledInv
R
R
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
γ
ν χ
076
028
6
6 0 0406
2
2 2 2
−
Closed (in U.S. only):
p N
p ScaledInv
C
C
( )~ ( . , .
)
( )~ ( , . )
μ
ν χ
0 0800
0 0240
6
6 0 0240
2
2 2 2
−
A previous analysis suggested that the effect of the framework-date extension on eastern mallards would be of
lower magnitude and more variable than on mid-continent mallards (USFWS 2000). Therefore, we specified the
following prior distribution for the marginal effect of the framework-date extension for eastern mallards as:
p( ) N( ) f δ
~ 0.01,0.012
50
The prior distributions were multiplied by the likelihood functions based on the last four years of data under
liberal regulations, and the resulting posterior distributions were evaluated with Markov Chain Monte Carlo
simulation. Posterior estimates of model parameters and of annual harvest rates are provided in the following
table:
Parameter Estimate SD Parameter Estimate SD
μC 0.0789 0.0257 h2002 0.1621 0.0127
νC 0.0233 0.0058 h2003 0.1460 0.0105
γR 0.7601 0.1129 h2004 0.1361 0.0114
νR 0.0394 0.0100 h2005 0.1310 0.0119
γM 0.9210 0.1161 h2006 0.1036 0.0132
νM 0.0471 0.0119 h2007 0.1192 0.0134
μL 0.1489 0.0157
νL 0.0446 0.0091
δf 0.0039 0.0095
51
APPENDIX 6: Scaup Model
We use a state-space formulation of scaup population and harvest dynamics within a Bayesian estimation
framework (Meyer and Millar 1999, Millar and Meyer 2000). This analytical framework allows us to represent
uncertainty associated with the monitoring programs (observation error) and the ability of our model formulation